mwc

This is how Uber matches trips[0]. Optimising not for the fastest pick up for any one rider, but to reduce the total time of arrival in the whole network.

[0] http://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2019/10/23/uber-ride-shari...

In New Zealand, our broadband market is structurally separated.

The the access provider for both the copper and fibre network (right to the customer premises) is a regulated wholesale only provider, which is required to provide open access to its network on a non-discriminatory basis between all access seekers (retail telecommunications companies).[0]

This almost entirely resolves the net neutrality debate in New Zealand.

[0] This is a slight simplification: Chorus is the network owner for the copper network, and about 70% of the fibre network. The other 30% of fibre network is also built, owned and operated by wholesale only providers on a comparable basis.

> Imagine being a chef in 2015 and discovering that there are thousands of vegetable species you’ve never cooked with. It’s like discovering corn, arugula, tomatoes, and lettuce for the first time.

This struck me as particularly interesting. Corn, arugula, tomatoes and lettuce are all a product of selective breeding. To what extent has this been applied to "sea vegetables" and what might the possibilities look like?

Not an aeronautical engineer, but understand that the cylindrical shape used in today's aircraft design is very good at containing the stresses of a pressurised cabin.

However, the design does mean significant pressure stress on the front and rear of the cylinder. This must be managed with extensive (heavy) structures.

A doughnut design, in theory at least, solves for this by removing "the ends" of the cylinder.

It looks like 2 exit doors.

On that note, how would this affect the all important question of how to most efficiently board an aircraft?

Interesting from the FT [1]:

Airbus said although the design was worthwhile enough to protect with a patent — like about 6,000 other ideas its engineers devise every year — it was not an immediate prospect for shuttling passengers from Heathrow to JFK. “This is not something that’s currently under active development,” Airbus said.

[1] http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ba80c518-6492-11e4-b219-00144...

The article is quite clear that it's a totally unreal hypothetical:

  Of course, once your investment had grown past a certain 
  point, it would be impossible to put into any stock
  without drastically affecting the stock’s price. In many
  cases, investing this volume of cash would be
  impossible [...] we also did not take into account
  trading fees nor changes in the composition of the S&P
  index. We also assumed that all companies allowed for 
  investment in fractional shares.

  Moreover, even if one made the impossibly optimistic 
  assumption that picking the best stock of the day is a 
  50-50 guess, there would be only a one-in-3.53 
  trevigintillion (3.53 x 1072) chance of matching these 
  results.

There's another humorous follow up on Quartz, positing that "[i]nvesting a day late every day would have returned 19.6% in 2013".[0]

[0] http://qz.com/158489/investing-a-day-late-every-day-would-ha...

Edit: spelling.

An economic analysis on a proposed minimum income model for New Zealand:[0]

  The [basis minimum income] scheme proposed by the Welfare
  Working Group is a significant policy change with large
  economic consequences. The scheme is fiscally very costly
  and would not necessarily achieve its main goal of 
  reducing poverty. The high personal tax rates required to
  fund the scheme are highly distortionary to the labour
  market and to savings and investment decisions, and would 
  be likely to induce a significant behavioural response. 
  This has damaging effects on the tax system and economic 
  growth.

Also of importance, from the same report:

  Although the Gini coefficient improves under all models,
  many beneficiaries (including the disabled, carers and 
  sole parents) currently receive more than $300 per week 
  and would be made financially worse off under a GMI 
  scheme.

At a high level, it seems that the economic reality of providing a basic minimum income to everyone requires a significant increase in taxation revenue. That might be possible with significantly higher GDP per capita, but I'm not certain we're there yet.

[0] http://igps.victoria.ac.nz/WelfareWorkingGroup/Downloads/Wor...

Edit: formatting.

The linked numbers are brilliant. Lacking the "in my head" math skills I should probably have, I regularly whip out Excel to solve the kind of use cases you can imagine from the linked numbers in the video.

"Simply put, these are the best racing graphics I've seen on a PC!"

In legal practice, decisions are tested on appeal or by subsequent tribunals.

While this process is currently conducted by paid-for editorial teams, most practitioners rely on citation tools which for any judgment provide links through to subsequent decisions which have, for example, "approved", "considered", "distinguished" (as in disapplied due to different facts, but this can have the practical effect of confining an earlier decision to its particular facts) or "overturned" that decision.

Although Google Scholar seems to provide some authority measure through the "cited by" tool, I've often wondered why academia (or perhaps I've just missed it) hasn't developed a comparable "precedent" system for research.

I say "not-safe-for-work".

Yeah, a cursory Google of "Monsanto buys Blackwater" suggests that there's really nothing beyond speculation that this has occurred.

Also, while I'm not familiar with the listing rules in the US, it strikes me as difficult for a company like Monsanto to acquire a company like Blackwater without disclosing it to the market (but IANA(US Securities)L).

I wonder how the insurance market will respond to this? One of the incentives for installing an alarm (although this is a cheaper proposition) is a reduction in contents insurance.

In my experience, the question is not "do you have an authorised / specified alarm service" (although there is usually a distinction between monitored and unmonitored alarms), but simply "do you have an alarm system?".

If you follow through to the Quora link, there's a link to one Marilu Henner who, apparently, can remember each day of her life as if it happened yesterday.[1] Fascinating.

[1] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20026088-10391709.htm...

It's not nearly as interesting, but if you're (understandably) reluctant to connect your Gmail account, the demo data sets out fairly plainly how much can be established just from the to: and from: fields[1].

[1] https://immersion.media.mit.edu/demo

The New Zealand Treasury has conducted a preliminary assessment of a guaranteed minimum income (GMI) in New Zealand[1]. It's worth a read.

It's conclusions were broadly:

* To be cost neutral, it would require a significant increase in taxation rates (to a flat tax of ~45% - 50%).

* Although the Gini coefficient is improved, those who currently receive government support would likely receive less under a GMI scheme, which may have the effect of distributing more money away from those most in need.

A brief discussion of the "broad ranging" effects on efficiency and economic growth is also included.

[1] http://igps.victoria.ac.nz/WelfareWorkingGroup/Downloads/Wor...

Wait, there's a problem with the mute function? Excepting alarms (from Clock.app), my iPhone is silent when it's switched to mute.

I'm guessing people have a bunch of third party apps installed that don't respect the mute button?

Worldwide subject line keywords are interesting. So many of them are commerce related.

"Through the window she saw George, a policeman and several onlookers” clearly refers to two people and some onlookers."

No, it doesn't. If anything, I think the use of the Oxford comma would make this more clear (although the most elegant solution is surely just to draft the sentence in a less ambiguous manner).

The full special report (1720 words) is a worthy read. http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21570840-nordic...

Interesting to see confirmation of Bob Mansfield's continued role in the company. He'll lead a new group, "Technologies", responsible for wireless and semis.