larnmar

17 ms·

121.
by larnmar 7y ago
The question posed here, about why Eastern Europe fell behind the West, is an interesting one, but the approach taken here (pick two random-ass variables we can measure and try to explain everything with them) seems pretty damn weak, as doe
122.
by larnmar 7y ago
Colour me skeptical. That certainly doesn’t sound like a plausible number, and the article doesn’t cite any sources. This article http://www.worldstopexports.com/top-blood-exporters-by-count... total US blood exports at $
123.
by larnmar 7y ago
Oh yes, certainly no University would dream of actually paying for the research that goes on within their walls. Even better, if a professor actually gets a grant, the university will “tax” the grant at around 50% to pay for the overhead
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by larnmar 7y ago
No, I feel that they should all go and get other jobs.
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by larnmar 7y ago
a) off topic, and (b) representative of a global trend that was going on at the time, led by the psychiatric profession, rather than being any kind of personal whim of who your president happened to be at the time. We in Australia closed ou
126.
by larnmar 7y ago
Funny part is that all these extra administrators don’t actually help out the faculty much. Thirty years ago, most senior professors had secretaries, but now secretaries are almost unheard of. Individual professors wind up spending most of
127.
by larnmar 7y ago
Also as long as US education remains a strongly positional good — that the value of your education continues to be mostly dependent on where your university sits in the pecking order, rather than on some absolute value (e.g. of the knowledg
128.
by larnmar 7y ago
I can’t quite see how suing a company on behalf of its own investors is supposed to work, but I assume that if I’m an XOM shareholder it would involve wealth being transferred from me to me via lawyers who get to take a significant cut for
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by larnmar 7y ago
Fares have come down in absolute dollar terms (let alone inflation adjusted) over the last twenty years, while economy seat sizes have barely changed. What has changed is yield management — airlines have got much better at flying with as fe
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by larnmar 7y ago
The whole thing seems to be a narrative designed to deny the sincerity of anyone who disagrees with you. If someone has a different opinion to you, then clearly they’re a troll. Or maybe a bot, or a shill, or a paid Russian propagandist inf
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by larnmar 7y ago
As an English speaker who knows a bit of German, Dutch basically seems like a random combination of English and German words with a few misspellings thrown in for kicks.
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by larnmar 7y ago
Speaking of eternal September, I feel like some of the latecomers need to be educated on the actual meaning of “troll” (eg this writer, and most journalists). A troll is someone who posts deliberately provocative content for the purposes of
133.
by larnmar 7y ago
Do the people he’s denouncing actually exist?
134.
by larnmar 7y ago
This got me thinking about the economics of sunshades. According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_sunshade the simplest plan involves a huge cluster of lightweight shades at the Earth-Sun L1 point. Supposedly i
135.
by larnmar 7y ago
Call your consulate. Call your cruise company.
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by larnmar 7y ago
It seems to me that if a psychological effect is so small that you can meta-analyse hundreds of studies and still not be sure whether it exists or not, then it doesn’t matter if it does or not. This isn’t physics, where the existence of a t
137.
by larnmar 7y ago
Being small doesn’t necessarily make you insignificant. Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t, but a vast quantity of completely empty space shouldn’t make you feel that way. It’s empty! Some big rocks? Chunks of ice? Clouds of gas? Who cares? Mo
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by larnmar 7y ago
I’ve always thought that the author of that phrase showed a fundamental misunderstanding of what ought to make a country prosperous. He seems to think it’s surprising that Australia’s success has come from the bottom up (millions of indiv
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by larnmar 7y ago
Whoever has deep pockets but is politically weak enough.
140.
by larnmar 7y ago
I feel like this is the kind of content that is slowly ruining the internet. Take a single interesting fact (cribbed from a different blog), put it in the second paragraph, write three other paragraphs of gunk to surround it, press publish,
141.
by larnmar 7y ago
If it’s a crime, it is a crime of which we are all guilty. Have you heard of the concept of anarcho-tyranny? When everyone is guilty of a crime, always, then prosecutorial discretion becomes absolute power.
142.
by larnmar 7y ago
My English edition is five paperbacks, but these paperbacks run at about a thousand pages each. A 1000-page paperback is a major hassle to read (how do you comfortably hold it?) or carry around, and they seem to get damaged pretty quickly (
143.
by larnmar 7y ago
I found the speech very interesting, and the columnist’s attempt to twist it into relevance about his own hobbyhorse of US politics to be very boring. Russian politics is very interesting on its own, and we hear far too little about it (whi
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by larnmar 7y ago
Not sure, although you’d think the energy cost of re-making the can each time would be pretty significant. Also tou need to drink two cans to replace one water bottle. My other favourite “environmentally friendly” thirst quencher when I can
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by larnmar 7y ago
That’s the same as every other fibrous cement product, though. Is this different apart from using hemp for the purposes of marketing to a certain crowd?
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by larnmar 7y ago
I assume that in the game, though, being treated by the medic means you go straight back into play, rather than being medivaced and spending months in hospital followed by years of learning to walk again?
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by larnmar 7y ago
Sometimes when I’m bored and out walking, I play this game with cars. I pretend I’m allowed to keep any one of the next ten cars that go past, but I need to accept or reject it the moment I see it. If the second car is a Volvo do I pick it,
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by larnmar 7y ago
Luckily someone invented La Croix so you can just drink your water fizzy, lightly flavoured, and in a super-wasteful tiny can.
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by larnmar 7y ago
No, just intrinsically.
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by larnmar 7y ago
There are always multiple establishments. If one establishment doesn’t suit you, you can always go right next door to the other establishment labelled “the anti-establishment” and enjoy the company of like-minded individuals as you sneer at

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