43 States have State Lotteries, aka, the "Tax On People Who Are Bad At Math".
It always raises my hackles when I read that phrase. Lotteries are NOT a tax on those who are bad at math; they are a tax on the differential utility of $1 and $1 * 10^X dollars.
The utility most lottery players assign to $1 is close to zero. This utility value is less than their (odds of winning) * (utility of potential earnings), so playing the lotto is a good mathematical bet.
The stupidity factor does have an impact, though -- most people overestimate their probability of winning.
Also note that there is additional utility assigned by most people to their lottery tickets. They get some enjoyment out of playing the lotto. For some, that enjoyment alone is worth $1... the chance of winning is just a nice benefit. Workplace lottery pools are often like this. For me, it's an easy $1 to spend in order to have something to talk about, to help build the team, etc.
Would it be to your advantage to play five out of ten hands on one ten-handed table, or to play one hand on five different tables? If you think the former is better you are completely incorrect.
Why would that be incorrect?
The only reason it'd be better to play 5 hands on different tables is that it could be done concurrently (thus averaging higher returns as a function of time).
Removing the time constraint (since you did not mention it), a good poker player would be better off playing the the 5 hands (of 10) at a single table, since each hand played represents an opportunity to gain information about your opponents. If you only play small-stakes poker, then the value of that information is low. But once you begin playing big stakes poker, it's that information that gives you the slight edge to come out a winner in the end -- the value of that information is pretty high.
So, it's not completely incorrect. It's incorrect for a certain style of playing, at certain money levels, against certain competition.
I played small-stakes poker for years online as a hobby/supplemental income, averaging about $80/hr (maximum 6 tables at a time). Now that I have kids, I play infrequently -- but at bigger stakes tables, and I average around $95/hr. The main reason for the switch is the amazing number of bots that play at the lower-stakes tables. I just don't find it as much fun to play against bots, even though once you figure them out, you can abuse them handily (though good ones leave the table after you abuse them 2 or 3 times:)).
Call me crazy, but can you imagine a charity (secular) giving away only 10c on the dollar and not being hassled for it?
Yes. All the time.
As someone who has reviewed financials of charitable organizations, it's pretty amazing how much donated money is used to support "community outreach" or "public education" efforts that are really just marketing & fundraising.
The PBA? Less than 3% goes to the supposed purpose of the organization (I suspect the true purpose is simply to provide employment to the spouses and relatives of police officers, plus officers who are retired, are out of work for any reason, etc). Come to think of it, the PBA is probably a bad example, as they are one of the worst "charities" around.
Even in the case of a church, when you get down to it, some portion of donated money is eventually exchanged for either goods or labor used to do charitable work. If it's labor (IOW, salaries of the staff), does that make it an overhead expense, or actual charity spending? That's a big question. If a priest spends 20% of his time membership building, 40% of his time administering to his flock, 30% of his time massaging members for donations, and 10% of his time managing the charitable works of the church, how much of that is actual charity? All of it serves the purpose of increasing the ability of the church to provide charity to some extent.
There's not some super-secret version of the Bible that you only get to look at after 15 years of faithful service and huge stacks of cash donations to the Vatican. There's no super-secret version of the Qu'ran or the Talmud
That's just what we want you to think. Pay up and find out the real truth!
Mwua-ha-ha-ha.
Seriously, though, access to power in Scientology is the same as with any organization -- the more value you bring to the org, the more power you get. Sure, they've got well-defined thresholds and dollar amounts for the seeds of power, but do you REALLY think that most churches are not the same? The ability to massage patrons for donations is as important to most churches as it is to Scientology... the moral issue with Scientology is the methods used to "encourage" continued donations (or fees for auditing trainings or whatever).
Well, after I RTFA (sacrilege, I know), the point would seem to be data density. The signals are read by a CCD, not by a human interpreter, though I'm sure there is decent software out their for parsing morse code. It takes a while to send morse code signals if you're not in good practice, and the whole time you're sending the signal you're vulnerable. So the signal "fuse" has the advantage of transmitting an encoded message faster than most people using morse code could.
It's odd that the receiver is expected to have electricity, but not the sender... I really wonder about the utility if the electricity requirement is still there for one party.
In order to communicate effectively without electricity, it makes sense to look back to the time before electricity.
As for coding-messages-on-the-fly for the flare o' many colors, what kind of data density are they looking for? Wafers of colored fuel could be dropped into a tube that is then sealed for burning.
Or, they could just figure out a way to send morse code with a flare... maybe some kind of retractable hood to be used as an interrupt?
who would invest in a company about to be ass raped by Apple lawyers?
The makers of Preparation-H. And the makers of icepacks and those weird donuts pregnant people sit on due to "flare-ups".
Got to support demand for your products somehow.
On a related note, did you know that prep-H is great for removing dark circles under the eyes after a late night of WoW? (Protip for a subset of slashdotters)
In his case, the college wanted professors to stick to the lesson plan that had been handed down from the administration.
That's a transfer credit acceptance issue.
If that professor deviates too much from the established curriculum, then it is possible that four-year colleges will not accept that course for credit at their institution.
I had this problem; I took three classes at the local community college while in high school, and I had to fight to get my college (after I graduated high school) to recognize the credits from two of the classes.
Sometimes community colleges have credit transfer agreements with state schools -- but this is also dependent on the curriculum.
In short CC professors are screwed when it comes to deciding what to teach -- obligations of the CC to have their credits accepted elsewhere are what defines the curricula.
People don't starve to death because of lack of food in the world. Yes, that makes no sense. They starve because of lack of infrastructure to get them food.
That used to be true, but you've got to update your maxims as things have changed.
The world has consumed more food than it has produced in 8 of the last ten years. It is no longer just a problem of distribution; now it is becoming a problem of production as well.
I hate to get all Malthusian on you, but demand for food (pop growth) is exponential... food production growth used to be arithmetic, but we've plateaued.
Am I missing something? It seems you would have to eat a freaking huge amount of any of the listed foods to get your daily amount
Well, the people TFA refers to are having fricking huge amounts of cola, why not fricking huge amounts of bananas? Switch from banana ice cream to a banana split sundae between each glass of cola.
8 L of cola 3 *large* glasses of cola per 2L bottle. So 12 glasses of cola. Which means 11 bananas if I skip the banana split after the last glass of cola.
My calculations work fine, I'm sticking to my original plan, except I'm switching to banana splits instead of banana-flavored ice cream.
Drinking 7 L of water a day would cause hypokalemia, but the hyponatremia (low sodium) would become a severe problem long before the reduced potassium.
The interesting thing about the cola problem is that the hypokalemia is more severe than the hyponatremia, suggesting that there is an additional factor other than overhydration.
Best guess is caffeine, as per the article. It's already well documented that high doses of caffeine cause hypokalemia, even when the caffeine is administered in pill form without abnormal amounts of water.
Hypokalemia is a documented side effect of caffeine intoxication. We have discovered this same problem in coffee drinkers, if you read the literature, you'd see for yourself.
Please note the "excessive" volumes referred to in TFA are on the order of 4+ (or up to 10+) L per day. That's like 2+ to 5+ pots of strong coffee a day in terms of caffeine content.
This is probably exacerbated by the "flushing" of electrolytes via diarrhea caused by high-volume fructose consumption.
Please. Know what you're talking about, or at least RTFA, before you try to make a counter-argument.
Overhydration can cause hypokalemia via excess elimination as well, but that becomes a problem long after hyponatremia becomes a severe problem.
From a physiological perspective, though, the problem is not a lack of potassium. That is a symptom. While it requires treatment, the underlying cause also should be treated
The problem is probably comprised of two main factors: caffeine intoxication and fructose-related diarrhea.
They have violent video games in Japan, yet Japanese teens gun prone to violence
I misread that as "Japanese teen gundam prone to violence" and I thought, sheesh -- of course they're prone to violence, that's what they were *built* for.
And then I realized that it's no longer naptime, but apparently I'm still dreaming.
'Evidence is increasing to suggest that excessive cola consumption can also lead to hypokalaemia, in which the blood potassium levels fall, causing an adverse effect on vital muscle functions.'
Bananas contain lots of potassium.
Solution is obvious: drink all the cola you want, just make sure to supplement with banana ice cream. Added advantage of calcium and magnesium in the ice cream (also necessary for proper muscle function).
This post brought to you by Dole-omite and Benn & Gerry's.
That's not even slightly true. War is not a "net loss" for successful defenders. It's a great win compared to the alternative (being conquered).
Ever hear of a Pyrrhic victory?
A successful defense against an aggressor is only a net gain if the value of not being conquered is greater than the cost of prosecuting the defensive war.
That value is, of course, extremely hard to calculate, but I think most states have an inflated sense of cultural worth. For the regular people, a peaceful surrender is probably a better resolution than a bloody conflict. It would depend on the nature of the invader, of course...
This is the same Leland Yee who has three times been pulled over on suspicion of cruising for prostitutes in San Fran (while holding public office), but never been charged? The same Leland Yee who was arrested for shoplifting in Hawaii, but had all charges dropped without prejudice?
Is it just me, or are those with the biggest axe to grind usually the ones with the most delicious skeletons in the closet?
FWIW, the third dimension is generally meaningless when referring to thumb drive size... only the biggest two dimensions really affect our usage. If I hadn't made the same error a couple weeks ago, I wouldn't have noticed it myself:)
we need robots and machines that PREVENT war through simulation and complex analysis. robots and machines that can predict war, formulate resolutions to our current wars, and advance mankind as a civilization.
That's a great idea!
What we can do is analyze the predicted outcome of our current wars via simulation, then have each group involved just execute those soldiers that would have been killed.
That way, we'd still get the popular dislike of the wars due to casualties (which tend to be a driving force in ending long occupational wars), but we don't have to bear the expense of actually *prosecuting* the war.
Wow. I can't wait for the advances in conflict simulators so we can save a ton of cash on war. Think how many more wars we could enter into if they got so cheap! That would be awesome.
...do not welcome those who would welcome our new robotic soldier overlords.
Well, judging by the redundant moderation, it appears that someone, for one, did not welcome he who did not welcome those who would welcome our new robotic soldier overlords.
It's sad that most readers can no longer read a sentence with more than one clause in it. That's the reader's problem, not yours.
I disagree. If your goal is to communicate an idea, failure to communicate that idea due to poor writing is your problem, not the readers'.
For a tech analog, look at UI design. Is it the fault of the users, or the fault of the designer, when the users have problems using the software due to the UI?
Of course the best writers still manage to make their complex explanations seem simple. But none do it without multiple clauses. That's just part of explaining something in terms more simple than black and white.
I have no issues with using multiple clauses -- my posts in this thread make that obvious. However, there is a limit to what can be parsed easily. And generally, reorganizing what you're trying to write can make the dependence on entangled clauses disappear.
It is possible to explain complex thoughts clearly, concisely, and accurately. Most convoluted prose is needlessly so. It is not the fault of the reader that they did not care to expend the extra effort required to read convoluted writings. It is the writer who has failed to communicate.
That's a really good point about the pre-emptive inclusion of counter-arguments breaking the flow. I think that's probably the biggest problem in his pieces -- moreso that the length of his sentences and paragraphs.
In most well-written pieces I've read that include those, they are footnotes (as you suggest), or at least at the end of the piece.
I think it's a common problem with people who use outlines to map out a work. Organizing the piece by topic, and addressing each topic completely before moving on to the next, really does break up the flow -- especially when there isn't a synopsis of the full argument in the beginning.
Slashdot Mirror
It always raises my hackles when I read that phrase. Lotteries are NOT a tax on those who are bad at math; they are a tax on the differential utility of $1 and $1 * 10^X dollars.
The utility most lottery players assign to $1 is close to zero. This utility value is less than their (odds of winning) * (utility of potential earnings), so playing the lotto is a good mathematical bet.
The stupidity factor does have an impact, though -- most people overestimate their probability of winning.
Also note that there is additional utility assigned by most people to their lottery tickets. They get some enjoyment out of playing the lotto. For some, that enjoyment alone is worth $1... the chance of winning is just a nice benefit. Workplace lottery pools are often like this. For me, it's an easy $1 to spend in order to have something to talk about, to help build the team, etc.
Why would that be incorrect?
:)).
The only reason it'd be better to play 5 hands on different tables is that it could be done concurrently (thus averaging higher returns as a function of time).
Removing the time constraint (since you did not mention it), a good poker player would be better off playing the the 5 hands (of 10) at a single table, since each hand played represents an opportunity to gain information about your opponents. If you only play small-stakes poker, then the value of that information is low. But once you begin playing big stakes poker, it's that information that gives you the slight edge to come out a winner in the end -- the value of that information is pretty high.
So, it's not completely incorrect. It's incorrect for a certain style of playing, at certain money levels, against certain competition.
I played small-stakes poker for years online as a hobby/supplemental income, averaging about $80/hr (maximum 6 tables at a time). Now that I have kids, I play infrequently -- but at bigger stakes tables, and I average around $95/hr. The main reason for the switch is the amazing number of bots that play at the lower-stakes tables. I just don't find it as much fun to play against bots, even though once you figure them out, you can abuse them handily (though good ones leave the table after you abuse them 2 or 3 times
Yes. All the time.
As someone who has reviewed financials of charitable organizations, it's pretty amazing how much donated money is used to support "community outreach" or "public education" efforts that are really just marketing & fundraising.
The PBA? Less than 3% goes to the supposed purpose of the organization (I suspect the true purpose is simply to provide employment to the spouses and relatives of police officers, plus officers who are retired, are out of work for any reason, etc). Come to think of it, the PBA is probably a bad example, as they are one of the worst "charities" around.
Even in the case of a church, when you get down to it, some portion of donated money is eventually exchanged for either goods or labor used to do charitable work. If it's labor (IOW, salaries of the staff), does that make it an overhead expense, or actual charity spending? That's a big question. If a priest spends 20% of his time membership building, 40% of his time administering to his flock, 30% of his time massaging members for donations, and 10% of his time managing the charitable works of the church, how much of that is actual charity? All of it serves the purpose of increasing the ability of the church to provide charity to some extent.
That's just what we want you to think. Pay up and find out the real truth!
Mwua-ha-ha-ha.
Seriously, though, access to power in Scientology is the same as with any organization -- the more value you bring to the org, the more power you get. Sure, they've got well-defined thresholds and dollar amounts for the seeds of power, but do you REALLY think that most churches are not the same? The ability to massage patrons for donations is as important to most churches as it is to Scientology... the moral issue with Scientology is the methods used to "encourage" continued donations (or fees for auditing trainings or whatever).
Well, after I RTFA (sacrilege, I know), the point would seem to be data density. The signals are read by a CCD, not by a human interpreter, though I'm sure there is decent software out their for parsing morse code. It takes a while to send morse code signals if you're not in good practice, and the whole time you're sending the signal you're vulnerable. So the signal "fuse" has the advantage of transmitting an encoded message faster than most people using morse code could.
It's odd that the receiver is expected to have electricity, but not the sender... I really wonder about the utility if the electricity requirement is still there for one party.
Smoke signals... in color.
Morse code... without electricity.
In order to communicate effectively without electricity, it makes sense to look back to the time before electricity.
As for coding-messages-on-the-fly for the flare o' many colors, what kind of data density are they looking for? Wafers of colored fuel could be dropped into a tube that is then sealed for burning.
Or, they could just figure out a way to send morse code with a flare... maybe some kind of retractable hood to be used as an interrupt?
The makers of Preparation-H. And the makers of icepacks and those weird donuts pregnant people sit on due to "flare-ups".
Got to support demand for your products somehow.
On a related note, did you know that prep-H is great for removing dark circles under the eyes after a late night of WoW? (Protip for a subset of slashdotters)
That's a transfer credit acceptance issue.
If that professor deviates too much from the established curriculum, then it is possible that four-year colleges will not accept that course for credit at their institution.
I had this problem; I took three classes at the local community college while in high school, and I had to fight to get my college (after I graduated high school) to recognize the credits from two of the classes.
Sometimes community colleges have credit transfer agreements with state schools -- but this is also dependent on the curriculum.
In short CC professors are screwed when it comes to deciding what to teach -- obligations of the CC to have their credits accepted elsewhere are what defines the curricula.
Well, the people TFA refers to are having fricking huge amounts of cola, why not fricking huge amounts of bananas? Switch from banana ice cream to a banana split sundae between each glass of cola.
8 L of cola
3 *large* glasses of cola per 2L bottle.
So 12 glasses of cola.
Which means 11 bananas if I skip the banana split after the last glass of cola.
My calculations work fine, I'm sticking to my original plan, except I'm switching to banana splits instead of banana-flavored ice cream.
Drinking 7 L of water a day would cause hypokalemia, but the hyponatremia (low sodium) would become a severe problem long before the reduced potassium.
The interesting thing about the cola problem is that the hypokalemia is more severe than the hyponatremia, suggesting that there is an additional factor other than overhydration.
Best guess is caffeine, as per the article. It's already well documented that high doses of caffeine cause hypokalemia, even when the caffeine is administered in pill form without abnormal amounts of water.
Hypokalemia is a documented side effect of caffeine intoxication. We have discovered this same problem in coffee drinkers, if you read the literature, you'd see for yourself.
Please note the "excessive" volumes referred to in TFA are on the order of 4+ (or up to 10+) L per day. That's like 2+ to 5+ pots of strong coffee a day in terms of caffeine content.
This is probably exacerbated by the "flushing" of electrolytes via diarrhea caused by high-volume fructose consumption.
Please. Know what you're talking about, or at least RTFA, before you try to make a counter-argument.
Overhydration can cause hypokalemia via excess elimination as well, but that becomes a problem long after hyponatremia becomes a severe problem.
From a physiological perspective, though, the problem is not a lack of potassium. That is a symptom. While it requires treatment, the underlying cause also should be treated
The problem is probably comprised of two main factors: caffeine intoxication and fructose-related diarrhea.
I misread that as "Japanese teen gundam prone to violence" and I thought, sheesh -- of course they're prone to violence, that's what they were *built* for.
And then I realized that it's no longer naptime, but apparently I'm still dreaming.
Bananas contain lots of potassium.
Solution is obvious: drink all the cola you want, just make sure to supplement with banana ice cream. Added advantage of calcium and magnesium in the ice cream (also necessary for proper muscle function).
This post brought to you by Dole-omite and Benn & Gerry's.
Ever hear of a Pyrrhic victory?
A successful defense against an aggressor is only a net gain if the value of not being conquered is greater than the cost of prosecuting the defensive war.
That value is, of course, extremely hard to calculate, but I think most states have an inflated sense of cultural worth. For the regular people, a peaceful surrender is probably a better resolution than a bloody conflict. It would depend on the nature of the invader, of course...
Ah, Leland Yee.
This is the same Leland Yee who has three times been pulled over on suspicion of cruising for prostitutes in San Fran (while holding public office), but never been charged? The same Leland Yee who was arrested for shoplifting in Hawaii, but had all charges dropped without prejudice?
Is it just me, or are those with the biggest axe to grind usually the ones with the most delicious skeletons in the closet?
Ah yes, the slippery slope concept.
But if it's a slippery slope, how does whatever-does-the-eroding get enough shear pressure to erode the slope?
And is it really a slope if it's made out of steps, or is it a stairway?
Enquiring minds want to know how to properly mix applicable metaphors.
FWIW, the third dimension is generally meaningless when referring to thumb drive size... only the biggest two dimensions really affect our usage. If I hadn't made the same error a couple weeks ago, I wouldn't have noticed it myself :)
FWIW, I would definitely have a geekgasm at a 1 cm^2 TB thumbdrive.
Think about, that's infinite storage in a 1 cm^3 bay of thumbdrives.
Finally, a hand-held (well, desktop when you consider usage) storage device able to store all the porn ever created in the past OR future.
That's a great idea!
What we can do is analyze the predicted outcome of our current wars via simulation, then have each group involved just execute those soldiers that would have been killed.
That way, we'd still get the popular dislike of the wars due to casualties (which tend to be a driving force in ending long occupational wars), but we don't have to bear the expense of actually *prosecuting* the war.
Wow. I can't wait for the advances in conflict simulators so we can save a ton of cash on war. Think how many more wars we could enter into if they got so cheap! That would be awesome.
Well, judging by the redundant moderation, it appears that someone, for one, did not welcome he who did not welcome those who would welcome our new robotic soldier overlords.
So there.
I disagree. If your goal is to communicate an idea, failure to communicate that idea due to poor writing is your problem, not the readers'.
For a tech analog, look at UI design. Is it the fault of the users, or the fault of the designer, when the users have problems using the software due to the UI?
I have no issues with using multiple clauses -- my posts in this thread make that obvious. However, there is a limit to what can be parsed easily. And generally, reorganizing what you're trying to write can make the dependence on entangled clauses disappear.
It is possible to explain complex thoughts clearly, concisely, and accurately. Most convoluted prose is needlessly so. It is not the fault of the reader that they did not care to expend the extra effort required to read convoluted writings. It is the writer who has failed to communicate.
Yup, sorry. Made a mistake.
:)
As I said, I'm not the best writer around
That's a really good point about the pre-emptive inclusion of counter-arguments breaking the flow. I think that's probably the biggest problem in his pieces -- moreso that the length of his sentences and paragraphs.
In most well-written pieces I've read that include those, they are footnotes (as you suggest), or at least at the end of the piece.
I think it's a common problem with people who use outlines to map out a work. Organizing the piece by topic, and addressing each topic completely before moving on to the next, really does break up the flow -- especially when there isn't a synopsis of the full argument in the beginning.