sasmith (u/sasmith) - Readit News

sasmith commented on The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World 20somethingfinance.com/am... · Posted by u/acangiano

yummyfajitas · 15 years ago

This article is pretty crappy.

Misleading stats: ...“in 1960, only 20 percent of mothers worked. Today, 70 percent of American children live in households where all adults are employed.”

"All adults"? That's a nice way of obscuring the fact that we have a lot more single parent households (with 100% of the adults working) than we did in 1960.

One way to look at that is that it should only take one-quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be 4 times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not.

I'm not sure why it is so obvious. 80% of the poor don't work at all (another 10% work only part time) and they enjoy a standard of living similar to the average 1950's American. For example, as of 1950, only 75% of the US had a flush toilet. Today (and even as far back as 1980) >99% did.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:fuZGrQqyd9QJ:w...

sasmith · 15 years ago

There's also the "graph on average paid vacation time in industrialized countries:" which is actually mandated vacation. I'd be very interested in seeing the 'average' graph to compare.

Original source of the graph (afaik): http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/2007-05-no-vacati...

sasmith commented on Build a better spell checker, win $10,000 web-ngram.research.micros... · Posted by u/willf

wuputah · 15 years ago

I hate to support Microsoft on this one - I was actually checking the rules to see if they forbid you from dual-licensing it - but you pulled this out of context. The license only allows them to use your code to evaluate who won the contest, and use it in promotional materials. Now, the latter part is a bit murky, it seems they have a license to publish a screenshot of your solution. But nevertheless, they are not claiming ownership of your work.

The full text is below:

Other than what is set forth below, we are not claiming any ownership rights to your entry. However, by submitting your entry, you are granting us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to: (i) use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your entry and all its content in connection with this Contest; and (ii) feature your entry and all content in connection with the marketing, sale, or promotion of this Contest (including but not limited to internal and external sales meetings, conference presentations, tradeshows, and screen shots of the Contest entry in press releases) in all media (now known or later developed)

http://web-ngram.research.microsoft.com/spellerchallenge/Doc...

sasmith · 15 years ago

He said he stopped reading.

sasmith commented on Humble Indie Bundle #2 is out humblebundle.com/... · Posted by u/steiza

sasmith · 15 years ago

I like that the top purchasers are advertisements.

sasmith commented on Head of Design at Facebook: How Her Team Uses Data To Make Decisions zurb.com/article/515/podc... · Posted by u/mikemcaveeney

dnewms · 15 years ago

I wonder how many users visited that deactivation page just to see "x will miss you" once they heard about it, without any intent to deactivate.

sasmith · 15 years ago

Excellent point, but it shouldn't impact an A/B test. Specifically, the experimental and control users should be equally drawn to look at the deactivation page.

However, this could give a false impression of improvement if you just look at the data before and after the launch. It's a good reason to also look at the total number of deactivations / visits to the deactivation page.

sasmith commented on Stuff Costs More Than You Think thintz.com/essays/less-st... · Posted by u/thecombjelly

MrFoof · 15 years ago

There's an old William Morris quote that I tend to live by: Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful and believe to be beautiful.

In the past 2 1/2 years or so I have been slowly paring down my possessions. As a result my living space has decreased from 960 ft2 to 720 ft2, and now to 670 ft2. In 4 months, I could consider downsizing again, probably to 550 ft2 or so. Less space means I can get a nicer space for the same money (though usually less), in a better location. Maybe I'd consider staying put if I had a live-in girlfriend, as there's plenty of closet space for someone else's things.

It's amazing the amount of stuff you tend to haul around with you. What do I miss that I've gotten rid of? Not a thing. I now know where everything is. It's getting increasingly easier to get at everything Cleaning is simple. A smaller space means lower utility bills (i.e. electric going from $80/mo to $35/mo). Fewer clothes (that I never wear) means less laundry to do. I still have some useless things that have sentimental value, and it'll probably take considerably more time before I consider passing those along.

Though most importantly, it leaves more money available for the things you really care about. Money is ultimately a tool, and I'd rather have it available for more worthwhile things.

sasmith · 15 years ago

How does fewer clothes that you don't wear mean less laundry?

sasmith commented on Would You Wear a Camcorder on Your Ear? gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.... · Posted by u/davewiner

sasmith · 15 years ago

I wish I had been. I heard a car crash last night, and when I got downstairs, it became clear that someone had hit a parked car (hard) and was fleeing the scene. I actively tried to catch the license plate, but could only pick up the first three characters, and even those I'm not confident of. Not sure if 15fps on 480x320 would have helped (especially in bad lighting), but I'd love to have that footage and find out.

sasmith commented on The Stock Market Is Still for Suckers blogmaverick.com/2010/08/... · Posted by u/Anon84

cynicalkane · 15 years ago

Gold doesn't do anything, except in some specialized applications.

Suppose you had some completely arbitrary asset. Kneezles. Over the last few years, the price of kneezles have tripled. The kneezle-bugs come out of the woodwork and say, "Look, if you had invested in a store of wealth that is not subject to inflation, you'd be doing better. Your kneezle-denominated wealth has fallen greatly."

Well, what are kneezles anyway? They're lumps of metal that don't do anything. Hey, sounds familiar...

sasmith · 15 years ago

I know you're being sarcastic, but I actually saw this coming and invested a fair amount in kneezles. Now I wish I'd just bought kneezle options, since I could have gotten much better leverage.

sasmith commented on Scott Adams: How I (Almost) Saved the Earth online.wsj.com/article/SB... · Posted by u/flybrand

jvdh · 15 years ago

It seems that the art of building efficient houses is contained only in Europe.

The houses in the US all seem to be made of wood, without much insulation. "Problems" that that causes are all dealt with using "efficient" heating or air conditioning systems. From what I've seen the same is true of Australia and New Zealand though. There you see a whole lot of portable electric heaters being used for the winter, which are probably the most inefficient way to generate heat.

The way typical Americans treat "energy conservation" is also an affront to people from Europe. Nobody in the US seems to think about conserving water in any way. Just look at the toilets, they flush a massive amount of water compared to the ones in Europe. Or the amount of ice that is used in drinks, the amount of water that is served and thrown away in restaurants.

It's all the little things that make a huge difference, and there seems to be a huge gap in the way these things are treated in Europe and in the US.

sasmith · 15 years ago

I really would like to write a more articulate reply, but it's late and I'm tired, so I'll leave you with:

I don't believe you.

Portable electric heaters can be incredibly efficient, since they only heat the room in question. I don't know much about building materials, but the article suggested that most heat loss is through windows, so worrying about wood building seems unnecessary.

Water conservation discussion need to be very localized. Lots of places in the US have very low population densities and plenty of water. Conservation is silly in this case. Whether your toilet uses a lot of water or a little, the same amount of poop and same amount of water are going to end up back in the river. Besides all this, toilet flushing and ice in drinks is peanuts compared to agricultural usage. They are little things and do not make a huge difference.

Please site your sources. Here are some of mine:

http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Energy_Efficient_Space_Hea...

http://www.toiletabcs.com/toilet-water-conservation.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources

sasmith commented on California's Prop 8 (gay marriage ban) ruled unconstitutional scribd.com/doc/35374462/P... · Posted by u/zain

yummyfajitas · 15 years ago

Gays have the right to marry an opposite sex partner. They may not prefer this, but they have the right to do it. Thus, laws prohibiting same sex marriage discriminate against people who prefer same sex relationships.

Similarly, renters have the right to get a mortgage subsidy by buying a home. They may not prefer it, but they have the right to do it. Thus, the mortgage subidy discriminates against people who prefer rentals.

Should we therefore eliminate mortgage subsidies (or any number of other laws which favor one preference over another) subsidies based on the same logic?

sasmith · 15 years ago

Fine, but under this law men have the right to marry women, but women do not (and vice-versa). Thus, the law is sexist.

sasmith commented on Bye-Bye, Batteries - Radio Waves as a Low-Power Source nytimes.com/2010/07/18/bu... · Posted by u/donohoe

sasmith · 15 years ago

Should I be considering this differently from solar? They're both harvesting ambient EM radiation; and the energy density of solar is much higher. I guess that radio goes through walls and never sleeps, so that's a plus. Anyway, I thought that the mentioning of a solar calculator was quite appropriate and warranted further discussion.