And why shouldn't pensions be funded first? They are nothing more than deferred payment of a worker's salary. Not paying a paying the pension is basically saying "We'll give you $100, $80 now and $20 later, to do x amount of work." Then after the work is done only paying them $80. I can't imagine any other scenario where that would be fair or legal.
I would fully agree with you if state employees were all on a defined contribution plan, but they are on defined benefit plans. It is like more like, we will set aside $20 for your future compensation today, but if you get a bunch of raises, live longer than expected, investments underperform, you are entitled to an automatic retroactive modification to that $20 for work you did years ago. I can't imagine a scenario where a sane person would agree to such terms.
I have fond memories of all kinds of good stuff. I think my favorite was trying to ignite calcium carbide with toilet paper. It didn't work, but when I tried to put it out with water, I sure learned my lesson.
The clay is primarily cut by a big 5-axis CNC machine. My guess is the printed plastic takes more sanding and smoothing, thus would require more union labor. Clay also has the advantage that is is easy add and remove, which is the whole point of using clay in the first place.
There's another problem at the work place. I have to change my password every 4 months to a moderately strong password. It cannot be a password I have used in the last 6 months or any of my last 6 passwords. The result? My password is prominently tacked up on my cubical wall.
My previous employer had the same policy, but I just incremented the password. By the time I left 2 years later, my password was "ilove77"
Yes, it was Ford, and it was functionally similar enough to HSD that upon close inspection, it might as well have been HSD. They licensed the HSD from Toyota while implementing their own design, the licensing done entirely for legal reasons, while they themselves licensed some of their diesel tech to Toyota in exchange. As the article points out, no money changed hands.
Ford buys 90% of it's hybrid powertrain from Aisin and Denso (Aisin is part of Toyota, and Denso is practically part of Toyota). Ford never developed a thing. The reason no money changed hands is because they agreed to buy the powertrain from Toyota at ridiculous prices. The whole thing is really quite funny, as Toyota/Denso probably make $1000 for every hybrid Ford sells, and Ford loses around $5000 on each one.
While I don't agree with the regulation at all, I'll give an example of why it exists.
Business Man: I want a liscense to operate a bus service in the city.
City Regulator: Okay, but you have offer service in all neighborhoods, including routes that are thinly travelled and may not be profitable.
Business Man: I'll only agree to operate unprofitable routes if you give me exclusive rights to the profitable routes. I can't afford to run the unprofitable routes if someone else comes in and cherry picks the profitable customers.
City Regulator: Okay, that is a deal. We will pass some regulations, including outlawing "carpool services", to prevent competitors from cherry picking the good routes, and you will agree to provide service everywhere.
That was once true, but is no longer the case. Since the Bush tax cuts, qualified dividends and capital gains are both taxed at 15%. Dividends and Buyback are also bought with after corporate income tax dollars, so the corporate income tax treatment is the same.
Ugly... is only part of the problem. Joel is a master at screwing up usability. I think his project managment system still includes a random photo of the day.
If you are making a question and answer site, why would you make the questions and answers the least prominent thing on every page?
A fixed width site? You have got to be kidding me. We are developers with 30" monitors.
This is easy to prove. If high compression were the major reason for better diesel mileage then there would be almost no difference in mileage between petro-diesel and biodiesel because the compression of the engine is the same for both fuels.
Please re-read what you wrote, and recognize the the logical fallacy. I didn't say, energy density makes no differece, but that the technology difference between *gas* and *diesel* engines explains the *majority* of the fuel economy difference. Your statement proves absolutely nothing.
Even these numbers are likely wrong. Premium/Regular distinction is based on ingition temp, not energy density. For instance, adding lead to regular gasoline will increase the octane rating well over 100, but will not change the energy density.
Diesel contains approximately 30% more energy per volume than gasoline does.
No it doesn't. It contains between 0-10% more energy than gasoline. Diesel engines are more efficient largely because they use higher compression. Gas engines can't increase the compression without causing pre-ignition, but diesel engines don't have this problem because the fuel is injected at the top of the compression stroke.
Doesn't work. Most douchebags design the encryption program so that it runs after 3-5 days of no contact. He probably wrote all of the scripts months prior to getting fired.
ID is not a theory. Please stop perverting that word. A "theory" is a scientific term for a model that is backed by evidence, has not been rejected by evidence, and is falsifiable.
ID is NOT backed by evidence and is NOT falsifiable, thus it is NOT a theory. It is a belief. Evolution can be proved wrong. ID cannot be.
While I think ID is total crap, it is potentially a valid theory. The premise of evolution is that speciation is caused by small, random genetic mutations that occasionally increase survivability. In order to "disprove" evolution, one would have to find evidence of instantaneous, large genetic mutations that are statistically improbable. This is exactly what the ID people argue. The problem with ID is that the evidence is really weak.
What do you think is more likely, A meteor that strikes the earth carrying the first bacteria, or heritability arising from natural chemical reactions? Is the meteor theory valid as a theory?
The lawsuit is for $1 billion... which is a whopping %0.6 of GOOG's market valuation. Win or lose, it is not all bad for google. If they lose, their competitors will get shutdown because of the legal precedence; they will be the last man standing. If they win, they get to continue as usual.
I don't think Viacom stands a chance... they need to show "willful, intentional, and purposeful" infringement. The case rests on data as a percentage basis, how many views turned out to be infringing content? 60%? 30%? 10%? 2%? IMO, if the answer is 60%, Viacom should win. If it is 2%, they should lose.
I have proposed specific measures to control costs -- like limiting drug companies' tax deductions for direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs
Drug companies aren't getting any special subsidies, they expense marketing costs like every other company. This has been suggested before, and it won't work. There is a 1st Amendment problem. If you do succeed in passing this, it will get overturned in the courts and probably have the unintended consequence of allowing more ads, not less. Nice try, no cigar.
Technically there aren't any direct subsidies for corn. They are all indirect.
1) Tariffs on substitutes -- e.g. the import tarriff on sugar props up the price for corn via the demand for corn syrup.
2) CRP land -- farmers are paid not to plant certain acres. This is popular with farmers, recreational hunters, and environmentalists. It is unlikely these payments are going away anytime soon. This program accounts for about 10% of the plantable acres in the US.
3) Guaranteed corn price minimums -- these days this policy has no effect because the market price for corn is much higher than the guaranteed minimum price.
That's an interesting theory, but I would imagine that the lottery data include all the drawn numbers, not just those with winning tickets.
Rather than imagining, see the article: As a first step, it was necessary to obtain a collection of MegaMillions' lottery numbers. Fortunately, the New Jersey Lottery website has an archive of all winning numbers since September 6, 1996.
I'll explain what is going on very simply.
1) Lots of people beleive in lucky numbers, and many lottery ticket buyers play their "lucky" numbers.
2) There are a lot of common lucky numbers 1,3,7 etc, and for example, 1 through 31 is going to be played more often than 32 because of birthdays.
Now lets assume the number picking process is *completely* random.
Note: not every set of numbers picked is a winner. Numbers are typically picked weekly and most weeks there is no winner.
Now, given a set of numbers chosen at random, a set containing more lucky numbers is more likely to produce a winner than a set containing very few lucky numbers. Thus when analyzing the distribution of the winners, you will observe that the winning numbers ofter contain "lucky" numbers. But of course, this is only because a larger proportion of tickets sold contain lucky numbers.
So what is the best lotto strategy to maximize your expected winnings? The answer is simple. Don't play, but if you do play, pick "unlucky" numbers because the odds of having to split the pot are lower.
That damn headline is a real disservice to slashdot and wired...
Let's see.
1) Real TV Shows
2) Runs on Linux
3) No DRM
4) 100% Legal
5) Free (as in Ad supported)
The headline should read, "NBC, FOX finally get it right. Let's hope it lasts."
The comparison to YouTube is just moronic, and the gripe about only 5 episodes being available just shows how stupid the author really is. Does anyone actually expect the networks to canabalize DVD sales by releasing the archives for free?
Picasa has sliders that let you "darken shadows" and "brighten highlights". The fact they ripped off a feature and then implemented it backwards makes me want to puke.
Which is why measuring computations per watt at peak load, is not a great indicator of energy efficiency. We typically buy enough hardware to handle a load that rarely happens, thus measuring actual energy efficiency is tricky. Since we build out to peak load, absolute performance means fewer total processors. On the other hand, it is also important how much the usage decreases under light load. For instance, a processor that uses 30% of peak power at a 10% load may be more efficient than a processor that uses 60% of peak power under a 10% load, even though the first process is less efficient at peak load.
Slashdot Mirror
And why shouldn't pensions be funded first? They are nothing more than deferred payment of a worker's salary. Not paying a paying the pension is basically saying "We'll give you $100, $80 now and $20 later, to do x amount of work." Then after the work is done only paying them $80. I can't imagine any other scenario where that would be fair or legal.
I would fully agree with you if state employees were all on a defined contribution plan, but they are on defined benefit plans. It is like more like, we will set aside $20 for your future compensation today, but if you get a bunch of raises, live longer than expected, investments underperform, you are entitled to an automatic retroactive modification to that $20 for work you did years ago. I can't imagine a scenario where a sane person would agree to such terms.
I have fond memories of all kinds of good stuff. I think my favorite was trying to ignite calcium carbide with toilet paper. It didn't work, but when I tried to put it out with water, I sure learned my lesson.
The clay is primarily cut by a big 5-axis CNC machine. My guess is the printed plastic takes more sanding and smoothing, thus would require more union labor. Clay also has the advantage that is is easy add and remove, which is the whole point of using clay in the first place.
There's another problem at the work place. I have to change my password every 4 months to a moderately strong password. It cannot be a password I have used in the last 6 months or any of my last 6 passwords. The result? My password is prominently tacked up on my cubical wall.
My previous employer had the same policy, but I just incremented the password. By the time I left 2 years later, my password was "ilove77"
Yes, it was Ford, and it was functionally similar enough to HSD that upon close inspection, it might as well have been HSD. They licensed the HSD from Toyota while implementing their own design, the licensing done entirely for legal reasons, while they themselves licensed some of their diesel tech to Toyota in exchange. As the article points out, no money changed hands.
Ford buys 90% of it's hybrid powertrain from Aisin and Denso (Aisin is part of Toyota, and Denso is practically part of Toyota). Ford never developed a thing. The reason no money changed hands is because they agreed to buy the powertrain from Toyota at ridiculous prices. The whole thing is really quite funny, as Toyota/Denso probably make $1000 for every hybrid Ford sells, and Ford loses around $5000 on each one.
sweaterdresses get soaked in the hypolimnion.
While I don't agree with the regulation at all, I'll give an example of why it exists.
Business Man: I want a liscense to operate a bus service in the city.
City Regulator: Okay, but you have offer service in all neighborhoods, including routes that are thinly travelled and may not be profitable.
Business Man: I'll only agree to operate unprofitable routes if you give me exclusive rights to the profitable routes. I can't afford to run the unprofitable routes if someone else comes in and cherry picks the profitable customers.
City Regulator: Okay, that is a deal. We will pass some regulations, including outlawing "carpool services", to prevent competitors from cherry picking the good routes, and you will agree to provide service everywhere.
I now see what you mean... the capital gains taxes can be deferred, but you must pay the dividend taxes today.
Buybacks are more tax efficient
That was once true, but is no longer the case. Since the Bush tax cuts, qualified dividends and capital gains are both taxed at 15%. Dividends and Buyback are also bought with after corporate income tax dollars, so the corporate income tax treatment is the same.
Ugly... is only part of the problem. Joel is a master at screwing up usability. I think his project managment system still includes a random photo of the day.
If you are making a question and answer site, why would you make the questions and answers the least prominent thing on every page?
A fixed width site? You have got to be kidding me. We are developers with 30" monitors.
This is easy to prove. If high compression were the major reason for better diesel mileage then there would be almost no difference in mileage between petro-diesel and biodiesel because the compression of the engine is the same for both fuels.
Please re-read what you wrote, and recognize the the logical fallacy. I didn't say, energy density makes no differece, but that the technology difference between *gas* and *diesel* engines explains the *majority* of the fuel economy difference. Your statement proves absolutely nothing.
Well, the wikipedia numbers cite a page called "Energy for Kids".
Wikipedia also lists:
34.6 - Gasoline Regular
39.5 - Gasoline Premium
38.6 - Diesel
see Gasoline
Even these numbers are likely wrong. Premium/Regular distinction is based on ingition temp, not energy density. For instance, adding lead to regular gasoline will increase the octane rating well over 100, but will not change the energy density.
Diesel contains approximately 30% more energy per volume than gasoline does.
No it doesn't. It contains between 0-10% more energy than gasoline. Diesel engines are more efficient largely because they use higher compression. Gas engines can't increase the compression without causing pre-ignition, but diesel engines don't have this problem because the fuel is injected at the top of the compression stroke.
Doesn't work. Most douchebags design the encryption program so that it runs after 3-5 days of no contact. He probably wrote all of the scripts months prior to getting fired.
ID is not a theory. Please stop perverting that word. A "theory" is a scientific term for a model that is backed by evidence, has not been rejected by evidence, and is falsifiable. ID is NOT backed by evidence and is NOT falsifiable, thus it is NOT a theory. It is a belief. Evolution can be proved wrong. ID cannot be.
While I think ID is total crap, it is potentially a valid theory. The premise of evolution is that speciation is caused by small, random genetic mutations that occasionally increase survivability. In order to "disprove" evolution, one would have to find evidence of instantaneous, large genetic mutations that are statistically improbable. This is exactly what the ID people argue. The problem with ID is that the evidence is really weak.
What do you think is more likely, A meteor that strikes the earth carrying the first bacteria, or heritability arising from natural chemical reactions? Is the meteor theory valid as a theory?
By that logic, you could have a PHP emit machine code and avoid a C compiler as well. Silverlight is not markup, it is byte code.
Songza?
I don't think Viacom stands a chance... they need to show "willful, intentional, and purposeful" infringement. The case rests on data as a percentage basis, how many views turned out to be infringing content? 60%? 30%? 10%? 2%? IMO, if the answer is 60%, Viacom should win. If it is 2%, they should lose.
I have proposed specific measures to control costs -- like limiting drug companies' tax deductions for direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs
Drug companies aren't getting any special subsidies, they expense marketing costs like every other company. This has been suggested before, and it won't work. There is a 1st Amendment problem. If you do succeed in passing this, it will get overturned in the courts and probably have the unintended consequence of allowing more ads, not less. Nice try, no cigar.
Technically there aren't any direct subsidies for corn. They are all indirect.
1) Tariffs on substitutes -- e.g. the import tarriff on sugar props up the price for corn via the demand for corn syrup.
2) CRP land -- farmers are paid not to plant certain acres. This is popular with farmers, recreational hunters, and environmentalists. It is unlikely these payments are going away anytime soon. This program accounts for about 10% of the plantable acres in the US.
3) Guaranteed corn price minimums -- these days this policy has no effect because the market price for corn is much higher than the guaranteed minimum price.
That's an interesting theory, but I would imagine that the lottery data include all the drawn numbers, not just those with winning tickets.
Rather than imagining, see the article:
As a first step, it was necessary to obtain a collection of MegaMillions' lottery numbers. Fortunately, the New Jersey Lottery website has an archive of all winning numbers since September 6, 1996.
This research is drivel.
I'll explain what is going on very simply.
1) Lots of people beleive in lucky numbers, and many lottery ticket buyers play their "lucky" numbers.
2) There are a lot of common lucky numbers 1,3,7 etc, and for example, 1 through 31 is going to be played more often than 32 because of birthdays.
Now lets assume the number picking process is *completely* random.
Note: not every set of numbers picked is a winner. Numbers are typically picked weekly and most weeks there is no winner.
Now, given a set of numbers chosen at random, a set containing more lucky numbers is more likely to produce a winner than a set containing very few lucky numbers. Thus when analyzing the distribution of the winners, you will observe that the winning numbers ofter contain "lucky" numbers. But of course, this is only because a larger proportion of tickets sold contain lucky numbers.
So what is the best lotto strategy to maximize your expected winnings? The answer is simple. Don't play, but if you do play, pick "unlucky" numbers because the odds of having to split the pot are lower.
That damn headline is a real disservice to slashdot and wired...
Let's see.
1) Real TV Shows
2) Runs on Linux
3) No DRM
4) 100% Legal
5) Free (as in Ad supported)
The headline should read, "NBC, FOX finally get it right. Let's hope it lasts."
The comparison to YouTube is just moronic, and the gripe about only 5 episodes being available just shows how stupid the author really is. Does anyone actually expect the networks to canabalize DVD sales by releasing the archives for free?
Picasa has sliders that let you "darken shadows" and "brighten highlights". The fact they ripped off a feature and then implemented it backwards makes me want to puke.
Which is why measuring computations per watt at peak load, is not a great indicator of energy efficiency. We typically buy enough hardware to handle a load that rarely happens, thus measuring actual energy efficiency is tricky. Since we build out to peak load, absolute performance means fewer total processors. On the other hand, it is also important how much the usage decreases under light load. For instance, a processor that uses 30% of peak power at a 10% load may be more efficient than a processor that uses 60% of peak power under a 10% load, even though the first process is less efficient at peak load.