So in short, cut the crap. Regardless if you appreciate Ron Paul's unique perspectives or think he's a crazy foolish man, don't make things up. Use facts. The truth is out there;), and in this case it makes it pretty clear that Ron Paul has not had more individual donors than any other candidate in the race.
and I'm sure Chicagoans would prefer if it could be buried if it could be done cheaply. It's ugly, it's loud, it drips rusty water, it obstructs views of an already rarely seen sun, and it's not handicap accessible.
The parts of the L that are buried [the loop, for example] are far more pleasant.
if they structured it anything like the sales tax, then there's an accompanying "use tax" of equal percentage. Generally speaking, states charge x% tax on anything purchased in the state payable at the point of sale, but also charge x% on the dollar value for all items purchased out of state and brought into the state, payable on tax forms. If they set up the same plan in this case, than buying out-of-state merely delays the tax due date by some time interval less than a year but doesn't change the amount owed.
How I feel about it is irrelevant to the discussion. I put out some background information to help/. readers see that this issue is complicated and has a complex back-story... things of which the vast majority of out-of-state/.ers (and many in-state/.ers) wouldn't likely be aware.
The "disclosures" on the bottom were my attempt to remain fair to the issue, in addition to attempting to write the actual post in a fair manner.
First, you must understand that there's no casinos currently in MA, but there are two on Native American tribal land which are quite close in CT.
Then, you must understand that Massachusetts has lotto, scratch offs, "mega" scratch offs which cost $20, participates in multi-state mega jackpot lotteries, and has keno.
Then, you must understand that a Native American tribe is currently trying [with the help of a major casino corporation] to build a casino on their tribal lands in MA.
Then, you must understand that MA's left and right oriented folks are generally unified against the casinos, fighting against a likely larger but certainly more apathetic middle group of moderates.
Then, you must understand that due to Prop 2.5 which restricts property tax revenue from growing more than 2.5% each year on existing property -- which is lower than general inflation and gov't cost inflation due to health care costs and energy costs growing upwards of 10% per year -- is putting a tighter and tighter squeeze on local government. Property taxes are the primary way that local governments obtain revenue, necessary to pay their share of infrastructure, education, safety, and overhead costs.
Then, you must understand that the supermajority Democratic state legislators are petrified of raising any taxes any where at any time.
Then, you must understand that Governor Deval Patrick proposed some local options taxes, where a town or city could add an additional levy on restaurants and keep some of that money and share the rest with the state. This is opposed by the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader, making it effectively dead on Beacon Hill. There were a few other local options of which I've forgotten.
Then, you must understand that the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader are very powerful in MA government, and that legislators who buck them tend to find all of their bills dead in committee, don't get any influential committee assignments, and get assigned to the leaky, small, smelly basement offices.
. . .
So, you've got a financial crunch at the local level. The Lege won't pass the Gov's revenue initiative. As far as casinos go, it's not clear what the Governor wants to see happen.
My guess? He wants the casino bill to fail. He's effectively added poison pills to the bill, exploiting NIMBYism and perhaps now this ban on Internet gambling so that the bill loses supporters. If the casino push crashes and burns, the Lege may have to revisit his proposal for local options. In short, this is way more complex than the standard/. cynical responses to politicians such as suggestions of corruption or corporate connection or nanny state or blah blah Ron Paul blah blah or somesuch.
Disclaimer: I live in MA I am a very local elected [unpaid] official I was an early supporter of Deval Patrick's campaign for governor I was a Democratic Party precinct captain I am opposed to any and all legalized gambling in MA, including the state-run lottery monopolies
The law in MA states that if no speed limit sign is posted the average speed of a distance is:
30 MPH for 1/8 mile in a "thickly settled" area (business district, or where houses average less than 200 feet apart for 1/4 mile). 40 MPH for 1/4 mile on an undivided highway outside a thickly settled area. 50 MPH for 1/4 mile on a divided highway outside a thickly settled area. 20 MPH in a school zone.
However, there are lots of speed limit signs in Massachusetts, so this law is rarely necessary. Furthermore, although the law makes that evidence prima facie, you are allowed to present evidence that the speed you were going in excess of those standards was reasonable [sunny day, open road, etc]. I have no idea if pointing out that the radar gun was used -- and therefore wasn't a measurement over a long enough distance -- has ever been tried.
It's voter intimidation. Buying votes just isn't a very efficient use of money, and AFAIK in tUSA, it's not illegal.
The real problem is when spouse/neighbor/employer/union_rep/government_official/pastor leans on you to vote a particular way, and then demands proof. Physical, financial, and spiritual intimidation is the real potential for abuse, and is illegal.
if you (a) have a flight at the Pudong airport that day to or from, or if (b) you have a top-up RFID metro card, it's only 40 RMB discount ($5.30ish). Nearly all passengers qualify for one of the discounts.
and accessed the Internet in apartments, Internet cafes, universities, and at a Chinese company -- in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, and Yichang. The following domains "had issues":
blogspot [never worked] flickr [all images blocked] google [cache never worked, images worked sporadically] bbc [usually didn't work; once in a while it did] cnn [when accessed via RSS reader]
other sites less important to me were blocked, but it's clear that the firewall is sporadic and certainly not thorough in suppressing anti-Chinese speech.
It's rumored that skype will be blocked soon, but not because of speech; China Telecom is losing out on too much domestic business it seems.
this is starting to sound like free market economics (supply and demand). As demand increases, so does price.
You're not remembering free market economics very well.
In the case of digital music, the supply curve is [very damn near almost perfectly] flat. The only marginal cost is the bandwidth, and the bandwidth costs for a few MB are almost $0.00. As such, you've got a demand curve with negative [non-infinite] slope, and a horizontal supply curve.
Supply and demand market based economics would suggest that the price would not change based on demand -- as the demand curve shifted, it would still intersect with the supply curve at the same price.
That doesn't mean that this system won't maximize profits. After all, the digital audio market is far more complex than the market for corn in the sense that a single song isn't a commodity, in the sense that there are copyright laws, and in the sense that people can choose to replicate the product at no direct financial cost to themselves or anyone else.
Interesting idea? You bet. Traditional supply and demand economic analysis? Not on this market please.
Holding someone accountable for stupid comments or for terrible waste of public money is not a "personal attack", especially when that person chooses to put himself up for criticism by offering to represent Americans while those Americans are paying his salary and for his pork.
BTW: many conservatives in Alaska were furious with the bridge -- it's a waste of taxpayer money. Many liberals in Alaska were furious with the bridge for the exact same reason. Stevens' probability of being re-elected is far from certain; he's likely to be contested in a primary by a Club for Growth candidate, and the Democrats [with lots of cash in the DSCC and far fewer seats to defend in the Senatorial election 2008] are sure to run a good race against him. Before you claim it's hopeless, Stevens' senate seat was occupied by a Democrat before Stevens won.
of how long you'll live. Why? The skew caused by child mortality. According to UNICEF child mortality statistics, a child born in Kenya is over 3 times more likely to die before five years old than one born in China, over 4 times more likely to die than one in Mexico. Plus, AIDS infection rates are much higher in Kenya, resulting in more deaths of people in their 20s and 30s.
Are food and water a problem? Sometimes, sure. But, the bigger problems are child mortality and AIDS. That's what's making the life expectancy a paltry 55.
What's it cost to ship a desktop, LCD monitor, or laptop? What's the convenience factor? What's the turnover rate on these electronics? What's it cost to ship a dishwasher, refrigerator, washer, or dryer? What's the convenience factor? What's the turnover rate on these electronics?
I agree that all appliances should be [eventually] included -- but this is the low hanging fruit. Compared to "white" appliances, computers are cheaper to ship, tend to get replaced more frequently, and almost certainly contain more electronic nasties per pound, cubic inch, or other metric. Furthermore, since the evolution of computer parts is so much faster than the evolution of "white" appliance parts, the feedback loop to modify the way the electronics are manufactured [to cheapen reprocessing later] is shorter, and so modifications to the manufacturing process itself will occur sooner at Dell than at Maytag.
After computers, I'd seek to include battery-operated electronics. They're far more similar to computers than "white" appliances on all the metrics I wrote about above.
There are 100 US Senators and 435 (voting) US Congressmen. All of them vote on US legislation which has a direct and immediate impact on my life: the laws with which I must comply, the taxes for which I must contribute, and the social services for which I may be eligible.
Since all 535 of these men and women will have a substantial influence on my life, why again shouldn't I be able to influence the elections of all 535? Taking it a step further, why shouldn't I be able to support groups which are interested eliciting the same reaction I'm interested in for any or all of the 535 legislators?
According to prostoalex, "Washington state... relies on state sales tax for 53.1% of its revenues."
That's incorrect, off by half. State taxes provide $33b of the state's $63b budget -- 52.3%. But sales tax makes up 53.1% of the state's portion of the revenue, not 53.1% of the revenue. In fact, it makes up.531*.523 == 27.7% of the revenue for the state. You'll note also that the state's revenue stream for licenses and fees (another word for tax) is $10b that isn't included in that $33b mentioned earlier, and those funds are collected within Washington too. Source for all info in paragraph (pdf)
I'm no fan of the sales tax due to it's regressive nature, but I did want to correct the incorrect information in the summary.
It's a good analogy, and the government does tell us how to operate our cars.
Stay in your lane. Don't exceed this speed limit. Don't drive while intoxicated. Don't drive a car that doesn't pass a safety inspection. Don't drive a car that doesn't pass an emissions inspection. Don't drive a car without operating your turn signal. Don't drive a car without two functioning head lights. Come to a complete stop.
You catch my drift. The government (ie the people) do indeed tell you how you can use your car, and they also have the authority to tell you how you can use your fiber optic network.
this is a "conservation" story. We're converting stored fuel into heat energy to generate electricity. We waste much of this heat. The story is about wasting less heat. That's efficiency in the same way that CF bulbs throw off less heat (waste) and insulation in your house allows less heat to escape (waste).
We're not lowering our demand of consumer electricity, we're lowering the demand of fuel source for the amount of supply generated.
Alaska's pork should be reduced in 2007 for two reasons:
1. Uncle Ted Stevens is a Republican, and the Dems have the majority in the Senate (49+1+1=51 vs. 49). Therefore, Uncle Ted isn't in the majority, and he can't use his majority status to ram things through appropriations.
2. The Senate has "eliminated" pork, known as earmarks, for this budget cycle (source). I'm sure it won't be a 100% freeze, but given that the amount of earmarked appropriations skyrocketed under the GOP-led Congress (60% increase in the past five years), it's reasonable to expect that it will be reduced dramatically -- especially to states with two Republican Senators and a Republican Representative, such as Alaska.
So, with Uncle Ted presumably bringing in less pork for the foreseeable future, will Alaskans react by electing a Dem, or will they re-elect Uncle Ted in the hopes that the GOP recapture the senate and Stevens' seniority becomes valuable locally again?
Laborers are providing income -- they're doing the work, and they're paying the income tax. This game that people have bought in to that companies don't have to pay their fare share because they have employees is just asinine. Google requires roads. Google requires regulated utilities. Google requires police protection of their property.
Just like the rest of us, Google should pay taxes.
Governments need to toughen up, and stop undermining the legislative process by making exceptions and deals for individual parties. It isn't ethical, it isn't fair, and it's a foolish race to the bottom.
And when used with FlexFuel, [GM full size SUVs are] using less fossil fuels - even including the fully burdened fossil fuel costs of ethanol - than Prius and Civic hybrid drivers, in addition to contributing to lower overall greenhouse gas emissions.
I really doubt it. Why?
* Prius and Civic hybrids get 55 and 50 MPG combined, respectively. The 2007 Yukon XL 1500 2WD gets 15/21 gas, 12/16 ethanol. The 2007 Suburban 1500 2WD gets 15/21 gas, 12/16 ethanol. Even give 'em 30% gain and they're nowhere near Prius and Civic.
* As for the petroleum content of American made ethanol: given that petroleum is used all over the refining process (from fertilizer to transportation), and given that a gallon of gasoline has 124,000 BTU of energy but the net gain in a gallon of ethanol is a mere 20,000 to 40,000 BTU you get to use 6 gallons of E100 for the fossil fuel cost of 3 to 5 gallons of E0 (gasoline). Let's use the 40,000 BTU number: by using ethanol you can use 4 gallons at the "carbon gasoline cost" of 3 gallons of gas.
So, lets do the math: 30% fuel efficiency gain on 15/21 (we'll pretend that we should be working off of their gasoline and not ethanol numbers) gets us to 19.5/27.3. But, don't forget about the "4 for the cost of 3" -- so the carbon release would be equivalent to a car that gets 26/36.4. Now, sure this is back of the envelope, but I've been really generous -- giving the full 30% on the gasoline numbers (not the ethanol numbers), and giving the very highest estimate for BTU increase.
We're still at 26/36.4 mpg for the GM SUVs vs 50 or 55 mpg for the Civic and Prius hybrids. You're still off by a factor of 2, sport.
I hope this isn't more GM vaporware. I hope this stuff works, and sells. I hope ethanol improvements increase that 40,000 BTU gain. I hope the 30% efficiency gains are just the beginning.
But even with those gains, (telecommute / walk / bike) > (bus / train / subway / carpool) > (high mpg) > (mid mpg) > (SUV) in terms of mpg, roughly speaking.
As it turns out many of these scheduling optimization problems are in the NP complete class of problems.
Scheduling is indeed in NP. But, the mathematics behind the scheduling and the interface are currently (generally speaking) both crap. I could do the mathematics -- probably map the problem into CPLEX which, while not free, is indeed considered much faster for nearly all LPs, ILPs, MILPs, etc than the open sourced flavors. Of course, being the good programmer I like to think I am, I'd write the set of functions that call CPLEX's APIs so that they could easily be swapped out for some other ILP solver.
Nevertheless, I've seen the front end of two different expensive commercially available course schedulers. They were crap, and there's no excuse for a crappy front end, because, contrary to popular belief, HCI is not NP.
Slashdot Mirror
Ron Paul has about 104,000 donors. His donor-feed is at:
;), and in this case it makes it pretty clear that Ron Paul has not had more individual donors than any other candidate in the race.
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/webservices/REST/fundraiser?name=liberty
It's not clear to me [and I've searched a bit] if that number is total number of unique donors or total number of donations. Other articles touching on the subject are
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/us/politics/06paul.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/10/12/politics/horserace/entry3362383.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=Horserace_3362383
Now... has Ron Paul found the most donors? I don't think so. Barack Obama had 92,000 new contributors in the 3rd Quarter, and has had 350,000+ thus far
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-10-01-fundraising_N.htm
So in short, cut the crap. Regardless if you appreciate Ron Paul's unique perspectives or think he's a crazy foolish man, don't make things up. Use facts. The truth is out there
and I'm sure Chicagoans would prefer if it could be buried if it could be done cheaply. It's ugly, it's loud, it drips rusty water, it obstructs views of an already rarely seen sun, and it's not handicap accessible.
The parts of the L that are buried [the loop, for example] are far more pleasant.
P.S. Yes, it's L and not El. (source)
if they structured it anything like the sales tax, then there's an accompanying "use tax" of equal percentage. Generally speaking, states charge x% tax on anything purchased in the state payable at the point of sale, but also charge x% on the dollar value for all items purchased out of state and brought into the state, payable on tax forms. If they set up the same plan in this case, than buying out-of-state merely delays the tax due date by some time interval less than a year but doesn't change the amount owed.
How I feel about it is irrelevant to the discussion. I put out some background information to help
The "disclosures" on the bottom were my attempt to remain fair to the issue, in addition to attempting to write the actual post in a fair manner.
First, you must understand that there's no casinos currently in MA, but there are two on Native American tribal land which are quite close in CT.
/. cynical responses to politicians such as suggestions of corruption or corporate connection or nanny state or blah blah Ron Paul blah blah or somesuch.
Then, you must understand that Massachusetts has lotto, scratch offs, "mega" scratch offs which cost $20, participates in multi-state mega jackpot lotteries, and has keno.
Then, you must understand that a Native American tribe is currently trying [with the help of a major casino corporation] to build a casino on their tribal lands in MA.
Then, you must understand that MA's left and right oriented folks are generally unified against the casinos, fighting against a likely larger but certainly more apathetic middle group of moderates.
Then, you must understand that due to Prop 2.5 which restricts property tax revenue from growing more than 2.5% each year on existing property -- which is lower than general inflation and gov't cost inflation due to health care costs and energy costs growing upwards of 10% per year -- is putting a tighter and tighter squeeze on local government. Property taxes are the primary way that local governments obtain revenue, necessary to pay their share of infrastructure, education, safety, and overhead costs.
Then, you must understand that the supermajority Democratic state legislators are petrified of raising any taxes any where at any time.
Then, you must understand that Governor Deval Patrick proposed some local options taxes, where a town or city could add an additional levy on restaurants and keep some of that money and share the rest with the state. This is opposed by the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader, making it effectively dead on Beacon Hill. There were a few other local options of which I've forgotten.
Then, you must understand that the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader are very powerful in MA government, and that legislators who buck them tend to find all of their bills dead in committee, don't get any influential committee assignments, and get assigned to the leaky, small, smelly basement offices.
.
.
.
So, you've got a financial crunch at the local level. The Lege won't pass the Gov's revenue initiative. As far as casinos go, it's not clear what the Governor wants to see happen.
My guess? He wants the casino bill to fail. He's effectively added poison pills to the bill, exploiting NIMBYism and perhaps now this ban on Internet gambling so that the bill loses supporters. If the casino push crashes and burns, the Lege may have to revisit his proposal for local options. In short, this is way more complex than the standard
Disclaimer:
I live in MA
I am a very local elected [unpaid] official
I was an early supporter of Deval Patrick's campaign for governor
I was a Democratic Party precinct captain
I am opposed to any and all legalized gambling in MA, including the state-run lottery monopolies
United Parcel Service.
The law in MA states that if no speed limit sign is posted the average speed of a distance is:
30 MPH for 1/8 mile in a "thickly settled" area (business district, or where houses average less than 200 feet apart for 1/4 mile).
40 MPH for 1/4 mile on an undivided highway outside a thickly settled area.
50 MPH for 1/4 mile on a divided highway outside a thickly settled area.
20 MPH in a school zone.
However, there are lots of speed limit signs in Massachusetts, so this law is rarely necessary. Furthermore, although the law makes that evidence prima facie, you are allowed to present evidence that the speed you were going in excess of those standards was reasonable [sunny day, open road, etc]. I have no idea if pointing out that the radar gun was used -- and therefore wasn't a measurement over a long enough distance -- has ever been tried.
the last thing they want is for him to be showing up to work more often.
It's voter intimidation. Buying votes just isn't a very efficient use of money, and AFAIK in tUSA, it's not illegal.
The real problem is when spouse/neighbor/employer/union_rep/government_official/pastor leans on you to vote a particular way, and then demands proof. Physical, financial, and spiritual intimidation is the real potential for abuse, and is illegal.
if you (a) have a flight at the Pudong airport that day to or from, or if (b) you have a top-up RFID metro card, it's only 40 RMB discount ($5.30ish). Nearly all passengers qualify for one of the discounts.
[pun intentional]
and accessed the Internet in apartments, Internet cafes, universities, and at a Chinese company -- in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, and Yichang. The following domains "had issues":
blogspot [never worked]
flickr [all images blocked]
google [cache never worked, images worked sporadically]
bbc [usually didn't work; once in a while it did]
cnn [when accessed via RSS reader]
other sites less important to me were blocked, but it's clear that the firewall is sporadic and certainly not thorough in suppressing anti-Chinese speech.
It's rumored that skype will be blocked soon, but not because of speech; China Telecom is losing out on too much domestic business it seems.
You're not remembering free market economics very well.
In the case of digital music, the supply curve is [very damn near almost perfectly] flat. The only marginal cost is the bandwidth, and the bandwidth costs for a few MB are almost $0.00. As such, you've got a demand curve with negative [non-infinite] slope, and a horizontal supply curve.
Supply and demand market based economics would suggest that the price would not change based on demand -- as the demand curve shifted, it would still intersect with the supply curve at the same price.
That doesn't mean that this system won't maximize profits. After all, the digital audio market is far more complex than the market for corn in the sense that a single song isn't a commodity, in the sense that there are copyright laws, and in the sense that people can choose to replicate the product at no direct financial cost to themselves or anyone else.
Interesting idea? You bet. Traditional supply and demand economic analysis? Not on this market please.
WTF?^^ mates
Holding someone accountable for stupid comments or for terrible waste of public money is not a "personal attack", especially when that person chooses to put himself up for criticism by offering to represent Americans while those Americans are paying his salary and for his pork.
BTW: many conservatives in Alaska were furious with the bridge -- it's a waste of taxpayer money. Many liberals in Alaska were furious with the bridge for the exact same reason. Stevens' probability of being re-elected is far from certain; he's likely to be contested in a primary by a Club for Growth candidate, and the Democrats [with lots of cash in the DSCC and far fewer seats to defend in the Senatorial election 2008] are sure to run a good race against him. Before you claim it's hopeless, Stevens' senate seat was occupied by a Democrat before Stevens won.
of how long you'll live. Why? The skew caused by child mortality. According to UNICEF child mortality statistics, a child born in Kenya is over 3 times more likely to die before five years old than one born in China, over 4 times more likely to die than one in Mexico. Plus, AIDS infection rates are much higher in Kenya, resulting in more deaths of people in their 20s and 30s.
Are food and water a problem? Sometimes, sure. But, the bigger problems are child mortality and AIDS. That's what's making the life expectancy a paltry 55.
What's it cost to ship a desktop, LCD monitor, or laptop? What's the convenience factor? What's the turnover rate on these electronics?
What's it cost to ship a dishwasher, refrigerator, washer, or dryer? What's the convenience factor? What's the turnover rate on these electronics?
I agree that all appliances should be [eventually] included -- but this is the low hanging fruit. Compared to "white" appliances, computers are cheaper to ship, tend to get replaced more frequently, and almost certainly contain more electronic nasties per pound, cubic inch, or other metric. Furthermore, since the evolution of computer parts is so much faster than the evolution of "white" appliance parts, the feedback loop to modify the way the electronics are manufactured [to cheapen reprocessing later] is shorter, and so modifications to the manufacturing process itself will occur sooner at Dell than at Maytag.
After computers, I'd seek to include battery-operated electronics. They're far more similar to computers than "white" appliances on all the metrics I wrote about above.
There are 100 US Senators and 435 (voting) US Congressmen. All of them vote on US legislation which has a direct and immediate impact on my life: the laws with which I must comply, the taxes for which I must contribute, and the social services for which I may be eligible.
Since all 535 of these men and women will have a substantial influence on my life, why again shouldn't I be able to influence the elections of all 535? Taking it a step further, why shouldn't I be able to support groups which are interested eliciting the same reaction I'm interested in for any or all of the 535 legislators?
According to prostoalex, "Washington state ... relies on state sales tax for 53.1% of its revenues."
.531*.523 == 27.7% of the revenue for the state. You'll note also that the state's revenue stream for licenses and fees (another word for tax) is $10b that isn't included in that $33b mentioned earlier, and those funds are collected within Washington too. Source for all info in paragraph (pdf)
That's incorrect, off by half. State taxes provide $33b of the state's $63b budget -- 52.3%. But sales tax makes up 53.1% of the state's portion of the revenue, not 53.1% of the revenue. In fact, it makes up
I'm no fan of the sales tax due to it's regressive nature, but I did want to correct the incorrect information in the summary.
It's a good analogy, and the government does tell us how to operate our cars.
Stay in your lane.
Don't exceed this speed limit.
Don't drive while intoxicated.
Don't drive a car that doesn't pass a safety inspection.
Don't drive a car that doesn't pass an emissions inspection.
Don't drive a car without operating your turn signal.
Don't drive a car without two functioning head lights.
Come to a complete stop.
You catch my drift. The government (ie the people) do indeed tell you how you can use your car, and they also have the authority to tell you how you can use your fiber optic network.
this is a "conservation" story. We're converting stored fuel into heat energy to generate electricity. We waste much of this heat. The story is about wasting less heat. That's efficiency in the same way that CF bulbs throw off less heat (waste) and insulation in your house allows less heat to escape (waste).
We're not lowering our demand of consumer electricity, we're lowering the demand of fuel source for the amount of supply generated.
Alaska's pork should be reduced in 2007 for two reasons:
1. Uncle Ted Stevens is a Republican, and the Dems have the majority in the Senate (49+1+1=51 vs. 49). Therefore, Uncle Ted isn't in the majority, and he can't use his majority status to ram things through appropriations.
2. The Senate has "eliminated" pork, known as earmarks, for this budget cycle (source). I'm sure it won't be a 100% freeze, but given that the amount of earmarked appropriations skyrocketed under the GOP-led Congress (60% increase in the past five years), it's reasonable to expect that it will be reduced dramatically -- especially to states with two Republican Senators and a Republican Representative, such as Alaska.
So, with Uncle Ted presumably bringing in less pork for the foreseeable future, will Alaskans react by electing a Dem, or will they re-elect Uncle Ted in the hopes that the GOP recapture the senate and Stevens' seniority becomes valuable locally again?
Laborers are providing income -- they're doing the work, and they're paying the income tax. This game that people have bought in to that companies don't have to pay their fare share because they have employees is just asinine. Google requires roads. Google requires regulated utilities. Google requires police protection of their property.
Just like the rest of us, Google should pay taxes.
Governments need to toughen up, and stop undermining the legislative process by making exceptions and deals for individual parties. It isn't ethical, it isn't fair, and it's a foolish race to the bottom.
I really doubt it. Why?
* Prius and Civic hybrids get 55 and 50 MPG combined, respectively. The 2007 Yukon XL 1500 2WD gets 15/21 gas, 12/16 ethanol. The 2007 Suburban 1500 2WD gets 15/21 gas, 12/16 ethanol. Even give 'em 30% gain and they're nowhere near Prius and Civic.
* As for the petroleum content of American made ethanol: given that petroleum is used all over the refining process (from fertilizer to transportation), and given that a gallon of gasoline has 124,000 BTU of energy but the net gain in a gallon of ethanol is a mere 20,000 to 40,000 BTU you get to use 6 gallons of E100 for the fossil fuel cost of 3 to 5 gallons of E0 (gasoline). Let's use the 40,000 BTU number: by using ethanol you can use 4 gallons at the "carbon gasoline cost" of 3 gallons of gas.
So, lets do the math: 30% fuel efficiency gain on 15/21 (we'll pretend that we should be working off of their gasoline and not ethanol numbers) gets us to 19.5/27.3. But, don't forget about the "4 for the cost of 3" -- so the carbon release would be equivalent to a car that gets 26/36.4. Now, sure this is back of the envelope, but I've been really generous -- giving the full 30% on the gasoline numbers (not the ethanol numbers), and giving the very highest estimate for BTU increase.
We're still at 26/36.4 mpg for the GM SUVs vs 50 or 55 mpg for the Civic and Prius hybrids. You're still off by a factor of 2, sport.
I hope this isn't more GM vaporware. I hope this stuff works, and sells. I hope ethanol improvements increase that 40,000 BTU gain. I hope the 30% efficiency gains are just the beginning.
But even with those gains, (telecommute / walk / bike) > (bus / train / subway / carpool) > (high mpg) > (mid mpg) > (SUV) in terms of mpg, roughly speaking.
51.4% of a barrel of oil goes towards gasoline according to the state of California.
As it turns out many of these scheduling optimization problems are in the NP complete class of problems.
Scheduling is indeed in NP. But, the mathematics behind the scheduling and the interface are currently (generally speaking) both crap. I could do the mathematics -- probably map the problem into CPLEX which, while not free, is indeed considered much faster for nearly all LPs, ILPs, MILPs, etc than the open sourced flavors. Of course, being the good programmer I like to think I am, I'd write the set of functions that call CPLEX's APIs so that they could easily be swapped out for some other ILP solver.
Nevertheless, I've seen the front end of two different expensive commercially available course schedulers. They were crap, and there's no excuse for a crappy front end, because, contrary to popular belief, HCI is not NP.