Anyone know the rule on building codes for this? My town has adopted a version of the International Building Codes. I've found places to buy it online, but no free version.
It seems ludicrous to me that I have to pay money to find out how to follow the codes.
You don't get rich by paying your taxes and you don't get elected for spending money on something now that can be put off til later at three times the price.
I have no problems with anything you say, but you need to understand that academia is working with a different set of value system than you are. Obviously you think yours is better.
They aren't interested in advancing your career just in advancing knowledge. How much money something will make is not what they really care about. Universities do not see it as their job to prepare you for your future job. They also don't see you as a "customer". The fact that you think they should shows a deep misunderstanding of the role Universities see themselves in.
Arguing that they should conform to your value system makes no more sense then you conforming to theirs. Except that they have what you want, the diploma that will increase your salary.
You start from the false premise the education is meant to prepare you for a job. It's not. Academia rightfully doesn't give a sh** about weather it's preparing you to shuffle work around or not. That's not it's goal, and I don't think it should be. It's goal is for you to learn things, and perhaps eventually further the field for the few that choose to continue. Learning for learning's sake is their goal and an admirable one.
IANAT but why would you narrow the band at all? Let's say questions have a difficulty rating one to ten. I'd start with a five, if it's correct, ask a six if not ask a four. Whenever they get a question wrong drop a one point of difficulty, when correct raise it one. In theory a person would end up bouncing around their proper area of difficulty. Figure out how long it takes a person to reach their optimal range and average their scores after that point. It'll take at least five questions even if you're perfect, so maybe it takes ten. In a twenty question test only the last ten would be counted in the average while the first ten would be making sure you had enough time to get in the proper range.
IANAK (I am not a Kiwi.) but as I recall hearing on our vacation there, NZ had the highest WW2 death toll as measured by percentage of population. Of course I have no citation for that though...
Wait..... so you're saying the ticket on the edge of the shelf says $20, but when you take the item to the till you get charged $22? That sounds mucked-up to me!
In general I agree with you, but there is one benefit. One you purchase an item you feel the impact of the tax much more than when the tax has already been added in. I've noticied quite a few people don't know what the VAT rate is in their respective EU countries because they never see it added on. In contrast, I suspect almost everyone in the US can tell you approximately what the sales tax rate is for their area. I say approximately since it can vary by county. I suspect that is one of the reasons your VAT rates are so much higher than in the States. 21% in Ireland vs. 8.5% in Chicago US
Corn will ruin farmland. It syphons more nutrients from the soil than practically any other crop. It renders the land it's grown on useless for years
IANAF but where I grew up in Wisconsin you see the same fields growing corn every year for some 30 years. Never left fallow or even rotated to soybeans. Is that because of the level of fertilizers dumped on them or what?
1: It's going to cost less than shipping care packages halfway around the world.
You have a deep misunderstanding if you think what the Peace Corps does is make care packages.
2: Better return on investment. Your own economy is helped if you can get these local people back on their feet.
Maybe ROI shouldn't be measured in terms of money but in terms of people helped and by how much.
3: What's the point of giving the world handouts at our own expense?
See my response to point one, but maybe it's to help people. You seem to identify with people in Flint and such but not with others around the world. That's fine, but others may identify with anyone in need and try to help those that need it most. I suspect that a person is much better off being bad off in Flint than in Tongo.
It's not logical to help others at your own expense. You have no guarantee that they will turn around and return the favor if you've worked yourself into a hole.
Once again, it's not about a guarantee, it's about helping. For some people knowing that they helped is reqard enough.
Somewhat off topic, but I'd be interested in hearing about the types of projects. I've been very tempted by the Peace Corps in the past but have been reluctant since I didn't feel my skills would lend themselves to agricultural type projects. What kind of opportunities are there in organisations like this for someone with Economics and CS degrees and quite a bit of corporate IT experience?
I knew it would be a sad day when I saw a job fair in New York City for technology jobs in Ireland.
Wow, I wish I'd seen that. It took me about 6 months time to get a tech job in Ireland since I didn't have an Irish work permit. Even though they have a streamlined work permit process for IT, most companies don't understand it. Anyway, if you get the opportunity, I highly recommend making the jump over the pond. I'm loving it. The Irish 'Work Authorization' program works well as does the UK's 'Highly Skilled Migrant Program.'
To play Devil's Advocate here, the government is building those roads and providing the protection in the real world that makes their virtual world possible. Your argument about these services not depending upon the funds from this individual business doesn't add up since even the largest of companies could make that argument. It basicly comes down to the fact that if you take part in something that earns you money or goods and services that have a monetary value then you have to pay tax on it. The barter system does not exempt you from tax so why should this? You are earning Linden $ that equate to US$ based on an exchange rate. That means you're getting paid even if you never exchange them for US$.
I can't say I like it, but if you accept the way tax is currently done, then this is covered by it.
Wow absolutely loved the post up until the last bit mentioning the 'epidemic' rise in autism. Granted this is a controversial topic but while people that approach it by the numbers will agree that there has been a dramatic rise in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders they will also point to the corresponding decline in the more generic diagnosis of 'cognitively imparied' or the older diagnosis of 'mentally retarded.' Basically autism is the same problem we've always had, it just got a new name and some brand marketing behind it. Yes it's still a big problem and needs attention but schools in general and specificlly special education in the US needs serious work.
OK, so I'm in pedantic mode here but shouldn't it be "last century B.C." instead of "1st century B.C."?
After all, "1st century B.C." is the century the world started. Tricky to get that half right to say the least. And if we take the starting of the universe into consideration it sort of gets hopeles.
What's the first negative number? I'd say negative one is the first not the last. Same here, you start counting from zero. Granted they didn't use zero but still.
IANAC but even I know God didn't build the really high mountains until after the flood. He just dug out the oceans more and dumped the rock where ever he felt like.
-- Don't try using a rational argument in a irrational discussion. What's the point?
What's the point to this? Do any of these Global Warming or Climate Change articles ever affect anyone's opinions? Let's throw in a discussion of Evolution v. Creationism/ID while we're at it. I vote the first person to post just declare the thread dead, it'll save everyone alot of time.
I think in order to be totally uninformed about any of the issues in recent elections you'd have to be living under a rock. But if we accept the premise that you know nothing about the issues or candidates, you could use one of the following strategies.
One: Vote against the incumbent. Incumbents are nearly impossible to remove from office. Even in the recent election where there was a good amount of turnover, incumbents still won the vast majority of races. Vote against them. If they are good, they'll still win. If they were bad, they will likely win anyway but you may help to remove them. This would involve voting for the Republican or Democrat that is running against the incumbent since you want the person with the next best chance of winning to get your vote. This also works well for those districts that have Yes/No ballots on judges keeping their jobs.
Two: Vote third party. It's unlikely they will win so you don't have to worry too much about electing someone with a different world view than you. But your vote may help to contribute to the destruction of the two party system and it will show you're fed up with the major candidates.
Three: Vote Affirmative Action. A friend of mine votes like this in all those little races that he knows nothing about. Basicly he votes against anyone who sounds like a white male. I'm not saying this is a great idea, just a way to go about balancing out the people who won't vote for anyone who isn't a white male if you're interested in that sort of thing.
Four: Vote against Diebold. Go to the polls and refuse to use the e-voting machines if the don't have a paper trail. Make a stink about it and draw attention to the issue. Don't do anything illegal, or at least a no felonies, but maybe you'll get media coverage if you get arrested or thrown out.
I've noticed in a lot of sports and games that involve strategy it is hard for an expert to play a novice well. An expert is usually used to playing other experts and this makes it possible to plan moves ahead of time because you can assume they will move with intelligence. Part of playing a game well is to be able to plan moves in advance and this is hard to do if the opponent doesn't have a plan or is moving with some degree of randomness.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone know the rule on building codes for this? My town has adopted a version of the International Building Codes. I've found places to buy it online, but no free version. It seems ludicrous to me that I have to pay money to find out how to follow the codes.
You don't get rich by paying your taxes and you don't get elected for spending money on something now that can be put off til later at three times the price.
That would require the bosses to be able to accurately grade performance in a field they don't understand.
I have no problems with anything you say, but you need to understand that academia is working with a different set of value system than you are. Obviously you think yours is better. They aren't interested in advancing your career just in advancing knowledge. How much money something will make is not what they really care about. Universities do not see it as their job to prepare you for your future job. They also don't see you as a "customer". The fact that you think they should shows a deep misunderstanding of the role Universities see themselves in. Arguing that they should conform to your value system makes no more sense then you conforming to theirs. Except that they have what you want, the diploma that will increase your salary.
You start from the false premise the education is meant to prepare you for a job. It's not. Academia rightfully doesn't give a sh** about weather it's preparing you to shuffle work around or not. That's not it's goal, and I don't think it should be. It's goal is for you to learn things, and perhaps eventually further the field for the few that choose to continue. Learning for learning's sake is their goal and an admirable one.
IANAT but why would you narrow the band at all? Let's say questions have a difficulty rating one to ten. I'd start with a five, if it's correct, ask a six if not ask a four. Whenever they get a question wrong drop a one point of difficulty, when correct raise it one. In theory a person would end up bouncing around their proper area of difficulty. Figure out how long it takes a person to reach their optimal range and average their scores after that point. It'll take at least five questions even if you're perfect, so maybe it takes ten. In a twenty question test only the last ten would be counted in the average while the first ten would be making sure you had enough time to get in the proper range.
IANAK (I am not a Kiwi.) but as I recall hearing on our vacation there, NZ had the highest WW2 death toll as measured by percentage of population. Of course I have no citation for that though...
Wow, you can get the secretary to surf
In general I agree with you, but there is one benefit. One you purchase an item you feel the impact of the tax much more than when the tax has already been added in. I've noticied quite a few people don't know what the VAT rate is in their respective EU countries because they never see it added on. In contrast, I suspect almost everyone in the US can tell you approximately what the sales tax rate is for their area. I say approximately since it can vary by county. I suspect that is one of the reasons your VAT rates are so much higher than in the States. 21% in Ireland vs. 8.5% in Chicago US
IANAF but where I grew up in Wisconsin you see the same fields growing corn every year for some 30 years. Never left fallow or even rotated to soybeans. Is that because of the level of fertilizers dumped on them or what?
True, but then you lose the observation that guilty people often deny things much more than a non guilty person would.
Well you don't want it to go forth and multiply.
You have a deep misunderstanding if you think what the Peace Corps does is make care packages.
2: Better return on investment. Your own economy is helped if you can get these local people back on their feet.
Maybe ROI shouldn't be measured in terms of money but in terms of people helped and by how much.
3: What's the point of giving the world handouts at our own expense?
See my response to point one, but maybe it's to help people. You seem to identify with people in Flint and such but not with others around the world. That's fine, but others may identify with anyone in need and try to help those that need it most. I suspect that a person is much better off being bad off in Flint than in Tongo.
It's not logical to help others at your own expense. You have no guarantee that they will turn around and return the favor if you've worked yourself into a hole.
Once again, it's not about a guarantee, it's about helping. For some people knowing that they helped is reqard enough.
Somewhat off topic, but I'd be interested in hearing about the types of projects. I've been very tempted by the Peace Corps in the past but have been reluctant since I didn't feel my skills would lend themselves to agricultural type projects. What kind of opportunities are there in organisations like this for someone with Economics and CS degrees and quite a bit of corporate IT experience?
Wow, I wish I'd seen that. It took me about 6 months time to get a tech job in Ireland since I didn't have an Irish work permit. Even though they have a streamlined work permit process for IT, most companies don't understand it. Anyway, if you get the opportunity, I highly recommend making the jump over the pond. I'm loving it. The Irish 'Work Authorization' program works well as does the UK's 'Highly Skilled Migrant Program.'
To play Devil's Advocate here, the government is building those roads and providing the protection in the real world that makes their virtual world possible. Your argument about these services not depending upon the funds from this individual business doesn't add up since even the largest of companies could make that argument. It basicly comes down to the fact that if you take part in something that earns you money or goods and services that have a monetary value then you have to pay tax on it. The barter system does not exempt you from tax so why should this? You are earning Linden $ that equate to US$ based on an exchange rate. That means you're getting paid even if you never exchange them for US$.
I can't say I like it, but if you accept the way tax is currently done, then this is covered by it.
My Nikon D70 came with it's own battery but also a holder for two AA batteries that fits in the same slot. Works great.
Wow absolutely loved the post up until the last bit mentioning the 'epidemic' rise in autism. Granted this is a controversial topic but while people that approach it by the numbers will agree that there has been a dramatic rise in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders they will also point to the corresponding decline in the more generic diagnosis of 'cognitively imparied' or the older diagnosis of 'mentally retarded.' Basically autism is the same problem we've always had, it just got a new name and some brand marketing behind it. Yes it's still a big problem and needs attention but schools in general and specificlly special education in the US needs serious work.
Interesting, I wouldn't consider it a proper noun myself since it isn't referring to the Nazi party. But I can understand it either way I guess.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nazi
You're one to talk. Sorry for being a grammar nazi, but in a post about language it has to be pointed out once again that your != you are.
After all, "1st century B.C." is the century the world started. Tricky to get that half right to say the least. And if we take the starting of the universe into consideration it sort of gets hopeles.
What's the first negative number? I'd say negative one is the first not the last. Same here, you start counting from zero. Granted they didn't use zero but still.
IANAC but even I know God didn't build the really high mountains until after the flood. He just dug out the oceans more and dumped the rock where ever he felt like.
-- Don't try using a rational argument in a irrational discussion. What's the point?
What's the point to this? Do any of these Global Warming or Climate Change articles ever affect anyone's opinions? Let's throw in a discussion of Evolution v. Creationism/ID while we're at it. I vote the first person to post just declare the thread dead, it'll save everyone alot of time.
I think in order to be totally uninformed about any of the issues in recent elections you'd have to be living under a rock. But if we accept the premise that you know nothing about the issues or candidates, you could use one of the following strategies.
One: Vote against the incumbent. Incumbents are nearly impossible to remove from office. Even in the recent election where there was a good amount of turnover, incumbents still won the vast majority of races. Vote against them. If they are good, they'll still win. If they were bad, they will likely win anyway but you may help to remove them. This would involve voting for the Republican or Democrat that is running against the incumbent since you want the person with the next best chance of winning to get your vote. This also works well for those districts that have Yes/No ballots on judges keeping their jobs.
Two: Vote third party. It's unlikely they will win so you don't have to worry too much about electing someone with a different world view than you. But your vote may help to contribute to the destruction of the two party system and it will show you're fed up with the major candidates.
Three: Vote Affirmative Action. A friend of mine votes like this in all those little races that he knows nothing about. Basicly he votes against anyone who sounds like a white male. I'm not saying this is a great idea, just a way to go about balancing out the people who won't vote for anyone who isn't a white male if you're interested in that sort of thing.
Four: Vote against Diebold. Go to the polls and refuse to use the e-voting machines if the don't have a paper trail. Make a stink about it and draw attention to the issue. Don't do anything illegal, or at least a no felonies, but maybe you'll get media coverage if you get arrested or thrown out.
I've noticed in a lot of sports and games that involve strategy it is hard for an expert to play a novice well. An expert is usually used to playing other experts and this makes it possible to plan moves ahead of time because you can assume they will move with intelligence. Part of playing a game well is to be able to plan moves in advance and this is hard to do if the opponent doesn't have a plan or is moving with some degree of randomness.