Anechoic

75 ms·

691.
by Anechoic 14y ago
>I liked your post, but this point I don't think I can relate to. I think potatolicious is referring to things like "is it true you black guys are well-endowed" or "I bet you Asian guys are really good a math and karate," etc.
692.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Isn't that why the constitution provides for <Nine> justices, though? The number of justices on SCOTUS isn't set by the Constitution, it's set by Congress. Throughout history there have been as many as 10 and as few as 5 justices.
693.
by Anechoic 14y ago
--Maybe he needs a promotion to SCOTUS ? =] "Posner has written several opinions sympathetic to abortion rights, including a decision that held that "partial-birth abortion" was constitutionally protected in some circumstances." Never gon
694.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Tim Choate (Zathras) also died (just read that a few minutes ago on Ars).
695.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Yes, I would choose "better government" over "zero government" (although the libertarian response would be "we're not calling for no government, just minimal government). That said - I don't really see the path to "better" government. W
696.
by Anechoic 14y ago
I've been on both sides of public project hearings, representing proponents who want to build or expand a project, and project opponents who want to block or reduce the expansion of a project. NIMBYism is very real, from folks who may just
697.
by Anechoic 14y ago
What's the problem with the front not being flush? I noticed this from the first time I saw the iPhone 5 and immediately thought it was an aesthetic decision that ties the iPhone 5 back to the iPhone 4/4S. FWIW, I like the design (ftr I'm a
698.
by Anechoic 14y ago
The research is peer-reviewed and published. IME, those organizations generally don't provide the peer-reviewers and the peer-reviewers aren't paid.
699.
by Anechoic 14y ago
It would be much more effective to have the response to being screwed be, "We have the option of saying you are not allowed to submit bids on public projects in the future." Then you don't have to legislate every last detail of when that h
700.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Town Hall. Instead of building a new building, rent office space somewhere else that was privately built. In very small towns I've seen that done, but that makes less sense for medium to larger towns and cities for a variety of reasons.
701.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Personally, I wonder if the best way to keep the system at a higher efficiency would be to have a public works departement which is allowed into bidding alongside private companies. That's kinda what happens with commuter rail in the US.
702.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Raised an eyebrow since change orders are the primary mechanism for inflating post-award margins. This comes down to how well the contract is written. The Big Dig was getting screwed pretty early on by contractors doing exactly what you d
703.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Yes, the "retainage" I'm refering to is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retainage 2% retainage seems really low. Contracts I've been involved with had retainage of at least 5% and as high as 10%. Hard to retain more because the GC does hav
704.
by Anechoic 14y ago
In addition to adestefan's point, think about the qualifications the "technical agency" would need to have, and now you have another large government bureaucracy which isn't so popular these days. For a transit project, this technical agenc
705.
by Anechoic 14y ago
I wouldn't go so far as to say that outside contractors are writing those RFP's, and turning around and winning them, It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens a lot . often times, the particular govt office/personal have a working
706.
by Anechoic 14y ago
You don't bring in your generalist town counsel on retainer to handle a million dollar construction lawsuit. Why would counsel get involved? Retainage is a pretty common practice for exactly this kind of situation. In fact I'm still waiti
707.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Compare to the new Seoul Bundang line which is 32.8km with 28 stations in some of the most dense urban areas on the planet. It'll run a bit under $400 million to build or about 1/17th the cost. Where are you getting that cost from?
708.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Official in town who's managing the project shows up, "What the hell are you doing! You can't lay concrete while it's freezing." Wait, what? Town official witnesses substandard work and just let's it go on? How was that not grounds for at
709.
by Anechoic 14y ago
I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but the United States strongly rejects, on a cultural level, the notion of a professional class of government employees. This is an excellent point. When the US Federal or a state government agency dec
710.
by Anechoic 14y ago
the gouging is done by contractors who've figured out how to exploit an antiquated (lowest-bidder wins) system. As someone who works on transportation projects, I find this to be incredibly unfair. Yes, there are a few shady contractors o
711.
by Anechoic 14y ago
So if you have two people in a cab, that cab is just as economically efficient as a bus. [..] We could replace AC Transit with a fleet of cabs. Does that include the cost of increased congestion from the increased traffic?
712.
by Anechoic 14y ago
I think MIT now also has take home exams, but I'm not sure. Any MIT people here who can clarify? I had at I think one take-home exam at MIT during my time there (1991-1995) and we were explicitly allowed (and encouraged) to collaborate, s
713.
by Anechoic 14y ago
For oil, lay down a tarp or a tray Yeah, but even with a tarp, oil and coolant has a way of reaching the pavement, especially on inclines (based on direct experience). Fortunately for me, the property owner doesn't care if I spill a littl
714.
by Anechoic 14y ago
With a jack, some stands, and some ingenuity, you'd be surprised what can get done I know from personal DIY experience there is a lot that can be done without a lift, but in a lot of cases, not having a lift may turn a 45-minute job into
715.
by Anechoic 14y ago
A couple: http://class.ee.iastate.edu/mmina/ee314x/homework/portable-e... http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/2001006...
716.
by Anechoic 14y ago
"Posted on Sunday, August 19 2012 by esr" yep
717.
by Anechoic 14y ago
> An interesting video I came across ("Look In The Mirror") a while ago --> Absolute strawman. The black "leaders" he calls out have been calling out the black "community" for self-inflicted ills for decades , ranging from misogy
718.
by Anechoic 14y ago
I have a really hard time believing these ideas weren't planted in her head Why? Real life is often the best instructor (as kaonashi put it "kids have a really easy time seeing things that are self-evident"). I remember being just a littl
719.
by Anechoic 14y ago
Ogbu has been discussed on HN before. Here is one of my responses: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2046616
720.
by Anechoic 14y ago
It's a little scary (maybe not surprising) that 2% of Harvard undergrads were involved in this scandal. This incident, combined with the Stuyvesant scandal makes me lose so much faith in the national student body. You've lost faith "in th

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