abas

Nice infographic showing where and when job loss and creation is happening. Particularly stark visualization of the recession happening.

This is from close to 30 years ago, but I think it illustrative of what could still easily happen in the US (and perhaps does, I'm not too knowledgeable about refugee issues):

In the 80s around a million fled violence (from repressive governments, civil wars and paramilitary groups) in central America seeking asylum in the US. They were largely turned away due to political considerations (i.e. the administration wanted to maintain ties with the governments of those countries). You can read about it in this wiki entry about the sanctuary movement that developed to help some of those people in spite of the US government. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_movement

That's funny. I haven't watched many dvds in awhile because I mostly watching streaming on Netflix. The other day I watched a brand new dvd on my roommate's dvd player. It skipped/stuttered several times during playback and I realized how nice my experience with streaming has been. My memory of watching dvds over the years is littered with such problems or worse (though there were also plenty of movies that displayed without a hitch). I have an occasional problem with Netflix, but they have been pretty far between.

How is your mattress?

I started having a similar experience this year and also started feeling better while on vacation. When I returned home and it immediately got worse again I realized my mattress was part of the problem (the symptoms were often the worst in the morning, though they persisted all day). It was not a terrible mattress, but over the years had gotten a little saggy in the middle. I bought a new mattress and while, the problem hasn't completely gone away, it has gotten a lot better.

I'm not really familiar with iPhoto, so I'm not sure if it fills quite the same niche or not, but I find Picasa works well for photo management.

My experience with going soap free at various times in my life is that it works a lot better for me if I'm not showering in hard water. In soft water (I've mostly lived places with naturally soft water), I can scrub my armpits a bit and they are scent free pretty quick. In hard water the stink doesn't seem to come off quite as easily.

Where other realistic options do people have to invest their money but to put it in the hands of a financier? Put it in a bank/retirement account it goes to/through the financiers.

Along with the advice about diet and a physical, you might consider taking a multi-vitamin and talk to your doctor about your energy/motivation when you get your physical.

I used to be puzzled as to why people would take vitamins in general, thinking that if you need vitamins, you should adjust your diet. I still think that more or less, but started taking vitamin B when I had some nerve issues and noticed my energy, mood and motivation was for sustained periods of time better than it had been probably since I hit puberty. I later went to the naturopath for other health issues and blood work showed I was borderline hypothyroid and had very low vitamin D levels. I have been taking supplements for both of those (stopped taking vitamin B awhile back because it started affecting my sleep for some reason) and they have also helped with my mood and motivation.

I guess it depends on how fitness is defined. I would say a person can definitely have good cardiovascular fitness while being fat. They could also have strong muscles, low blood pressure, low cholesterol, normal glucose levels and generally be healthy. I would describe that as being fit.

Seems like weight should be considered one indicator of fitness but not the most important one.

Being fat doesn't mean you aren't fit.

I've been thin my whole life, but am working to get fit now after a year or two of largely sedentary existence and it is making a big difference for me.

I'd like to hear your arguments for it being substantially more valuable for the rich man to have the dollar than the poor. At least in this economy it seems like I am constantly hearing about how it is better to put money in the hands of the less well off because they will spend it and it will help drive the economy.

>"The only way I can see to monetize bit torrent for artists are very indirect and way out of proportion to the enjoyment they create, akin to putting google ads on a popular website."

They don't necessarily have to do it over bit torrent. Television is available over bit torrent as well, and a lot of people use it to download shows. But now that hulu is around a lot of people are getting the same desire met through a channel that compensates the copyright holders.

I'm not sure what the corresponding setup would be for music.

I agree. I'm not sure that the technological techniques he mentioned will be very successful though. I think video of great teachers will help some, but as he said in his description of a great teacher: they are looking around and seeing what kids are paying attention, etc. I think kids will benefit the most from that kind of attention and I think that is even more true of at risk kids.

One thing I think might help is to have teachers observe each other. I taught a bit in grad school and would have liked to observe some of the other teachers who were really good and to have them observe me and give me suggestions.

I associate with a nature school that runs weekly programs for home schooled kids (the kids come one or two full school days a week). The instructors and helpers interact with all the kids throughout the year (they break into groups, but change it up a lot). During prep time they will talk with each other about the individual kids - where they think they are at and what they can do to help the kids grow. I've been really impressed and was thrilled with the adult programs I have done with them. The instructors aren't paid very much either, they are passionate about it though. And they have helpers who are doing it for free (some are actually paying a little for it as part of an apprenticeship program).

Any advice for if the company has not received outside investment and has no plans to seek it?

The best I've been able to come up with is to make a guess as to how much I think the company might one day be worth and then estimate my stock's value based as a percentage of the issued stock. I know my stock can be diluted, but I'm not really sure how to take that into account at this point.

Another possibility would be to have a smaller area, like a touch pad, that corresponded to the screen. Wouldn't be great for detail work, but would save space and cost and I suspect it wouldn't be too hard to get used to doing multitouch stuff on it.

It would be cool if they could go out to the "floating garbage continents" and make use of the plastic to build out their colonies.

Loving something doesn't mean I want to do it all the time. I love playing my guitar, but I don't think I would enjoy playing it 40 hours a week. At my current job I seem to enjoy it much more when I work 20-30 hours/wk.

Perhaps web developers should stage a strike. Have a day (or more) where everyone participating turns off there work arounds for IE (and perhaps put up a link to their favorite browsers).