tjic

41 ms·

481.
by tjic 17y ago
Short version / key paragraph: the IPCC is relying for its assertions that "up to 40% of the Amazonian forests could react drastically to even a slight reduction in precipitation" on a free-lance journalist/activist and a specialist in ...
482.
by tjic 17y ago
Slate is a pretty good and rational magazine, but one needs to remember that they are left of center, and apply the standard corrective filtering, just like when one reads the WSJ. which is to say: yes, they find it hard to be completely cl
483.
by tjic 17y ago
Two words: Veblen Good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
484.
by tjic 17y ago
Raw data isn't copyrightable, at least here in the US. It is perfectly legal to go through a phone book and copy it.
485.
by tjic 17y ago
The core issue isn't "the government already has this data". The core issue is "the how-much-tax-do-you-owe algorithm is terrificly complicated". Sure X counts as income ... unless you're blind, or you've got 3 kids, or you adopted a windp
486.
by tjic 17y ago
I've read allegations that David Kelly's rapid turn around from saying that there were WMDs present to arguing that there were none present was the result of blackmail over evidence of him being sexually involved with an aide. Googling on "
487.
by tjic 17y ago
I did a 3 month contract gig with a local robotics firm a while back. I developed a few cool features for them, but the reason they fell in love with me was that I worked up extensive testing checklists. During testing I'd be the one with
488.
by tjic 17y ago
It's a bar graph with a distort applied to it. The side effect of that is that it improperly scales the newer data vs. the older data, conflating graphic design and data representation (introducing bogus data).
489.
by tjic 17y ago
I see it. Interesting ... I wonder if that's an intentional Easter egg?
490.
by tjic 17y ago
In a place where land is expensive you can still go ahead and build a 25 ft^2 addition for a hell of a lot less than $25k.
491.
by tjic 17y ago
> The MBTA's a case study in incompetence, due to years of turf battles between the lege and governor's office. It's run by a bunch of overlapping boards with an org chart that looks like a spider web. Why is it that the MBTA, BART, the
492.
by tjic 17y ago
The author basically retracts his point here: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/01/wsj-another-view/
493.
by tjic 17y ago
Nice. Two calm comments of mine, both down voted to 0 or lower. ...and yet someone making no points and calling names (below) still has a positive score. You down voters ought to be ashamed of yourselves - this is a marketplace of IDEAS, an
494.
by tjic 17y ago
Yes. Mass transit is subsidized, in most cases, FAR beyond whatever the externalities cost. In Boston, 75% of the cost of each fair is payed for by other taxpayers. I dated a woman getting her PhD at MIT in transportation studies for a few
495.
by tjic 17y ago
My comment (above) has gotten three down votes in 5 minutes. Has anyone READ the article? I think that my summary is dead-on accurate. If you disagree, please post WHY you disagree.
496.
by tjic 17y ago
Much of mass transit (airplanes, tour buses, Greyhound, ocean cruise lines, etc.) are profitable. There are things that people are not willing to pay for, and government types have labelled these things "market failures", which, BTW, is a m
497.
by tjic 17y ago
The article boils down to one thing: "Obama is floating a bill the author likes. The general consensus is that the reason the market is down is BECAUSE of Obama's bill. The WSJ dares to report that the market is down BECAUSE of Obama's bi
498.
by tjic 17y ago
This all boils down to one things: in a knowledge economy, women can earn more than they can in a brute-force-and-muscle economy. There are two bell curves: income of men, and income of women. At one point, the men's income bellcurve was w
499.
by tjic 17y ago
Hopefully all of those who called anyone skeptical of AGW over the last few years "climate change denialists" (by extension from "Holocaust denialists") are now acknowledging that there WERE serious issues with the assertions all along, and
500.
by tjic 17y ago
Yep, I do have a CS degree, and I realized that the crisp corners are not differentiable ... but a short paragraph about that and giving a few real world examples would have strongly improved the post.
501.
by tjic 17y ago
The huge flaw with this article: explaining WHY I would ever want to use a soft maximum. Yes, it "sands off the corners". Why do I want that?
502.
by tjic 17y ago
> The main benefit I receive from publishers is filtering. The main benefit I receive from my friends is filtering. Now, the question is: do publishers or my friends do that job better?
503.
by tjic 17y ago
And why should it be? Nothing in tort law says that damages are limited to the physical cost of goods - all sorts of other damages exist.
504.
by tjic 17y ago
> Why don't they just tilt the fridge? Reminds me of the joke about the engineer: "hey, why can't those blind guys just play at night?". ;-)
505.
by tjic 17y ago
> Well, you know, just as long as she doesn't have a mind of her own. Zing! Nicely said. > I honestly find discussion about dating on HN a bit disturbing. Huh? Why? It's of interest to hackers, and I find it quite an interesting
506.
by tjic 17y ago
Ouch That's going to leave a mark!
507.
by tjic 17y ago
On the other hand, each single-founder company results in 1 vote for "yes", while each 2-founder company results in TWICE AS MANY votes for "no"...
508.
by tjic 17y ago
> This article requires me to login :( > Murdoch needs to get with the program. The "I'm running one of the only two profitable newspapers in the US" program? I think he's ALREADY with that program. Sorry that you don't like it.
509.
by tjic 17y ago
That says something pretty sad about the mental health / public policy of that destination...
510.
by tjic 17y ago
> you look at the '30 year bands' he's chosen they are cherry picked. Even if it's true, that's the standard that the mainstream climate scientists have set for this debate - look at hundred of tree ring records, pick just those that s

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