Still, it's a game that should be stopped. The federal government should stop things like this from happening, as it extracts value from local governments and gives it to corporations
Very interesting--I had never heard of this before.
It seems the higher interest rate is predicated on finding investors who want to take loans at higher-than-market-clearing rates. Does anyone have any insight into why non-Muslims are getting loans through these banks? I don't see how this scales to consistently provide higher returns, especially as more money moves into this system. Are tobacco and alcohol related loans failing at a higher rate than the rest of the market?
The article says that Muslim financing tradition prevents banks from paying interest, and they must instead share their profits. In recent years this has been higher than the meager interest offered by banks' traditional savings accounts, so it is attracting non-Muslims at a growing rate. There is some debate as to whether all of these products technically fit the definition/custom--as some banks are advertising a certain rate of return through profit sharing, making it very similar to interest.
Considering that we aren't sure that the mathematical equations that govern fluid dynamics can be fully solved in 3 dimensions, I don't buy your statement that weather forecasts would be solved easily if we could just figure out if global warming is happening.
Isn't a subsidy just a negative tax on what's seen as a positive externality? I get the argument for trying to find a 'market-based solution', but at some point a relatively small group of people (government representatives) need to make a decision that will affect the whole market/population. Whether they're taxing one thing or subsidizing something else, a decision is being made.
It's 38 minutes to the 128 station, which is hardly Boston proper. It's an hour between Providence and Boston (South station), and the cost difference between the commuter rail or even Amtrak regional with the Acela is crazy. $12 MBTA train vs $16 Amtrak regional vs $50-$80 or more for the Acela. For what amounts to a 5-10 minute savings.
As another example of equipment that is banned because its technological advancements are deemed to give an unfair advantage, take a look at golf. Equipment manufacturers need to get their products tested & approved by the USGA in order to be allowed in many tournaments. Clubs or balls that fly too far when you hit them do not get the required approval.
I would disagree. System failure modes can be quite complex. Yes you may have a good approximation of a material's Ultimate Tensile Strength through lab testing (although it isn't a single number and can be affected by a lot of variables, so it's usually designated as a range). But if your material yielded in a way that didn't account for, it could affect the loading on a different member, and trigger an issue with an entirely different part. Real world systems are more complex than your freshman year Statics assignments
Different companies have different levels of risk tolerance. I've worked at companies whose tolerance for risk is so low that they don't even touch anything that might be covered by a competitor's patent--even if that patent is clearly so broad that it wouldn't stand up in court, or is invalidated by the existence of prior art. The fact that it was written on a patent meant that we needed to circumvent their claims entirely. So if you were a competitor, it was definitely in your best interest to patent as much as you can... Even if you had no plans to enforce them.
The issue is that people have differing opinions as to what those essential apps should be... I'd imagine that it's hard to get consensus around what you need.
For what it's worth I've been trying to have a more "dumb phone" experience recently, but not by having an extremely small amount of apps. I simply removed all of the ones that are sources of distractions on a daily basis. The biggest culprit for me is Chrome. I'm realizing that I really don't have any need to have access to the entirety of the internet at all times. A couple dozen apps will give me what I actually need, and no distractions or aimlessly browsing [HN, Reddit, Facebook Instagram, etc.]
That seems like a reasonable step in the right direction. You wouldn't be forcing companies to abandon products (and preventing consumers from buying things that they potentially do actually want), but you do help the consumer make informed decisions and weigh the costs versus the potential benefits.
I think there's an implication in your thought process that the 'bitcoin original' value, which you bought into, goes to $0. This would constitute a capital loss, and you would have gains up from $0 on the secondary blockchain ('bitcoin improved'). This would seem reasonable to me, as it's essentially a wash. The only thing that would muddy the whole thing up is the holding period for short term and long term capital gains.
>Does one really ask a Mechanical Engineer or a Civil Engineer about their side projects?
Yes, sometimes. I'm a mechanical engineer, and frequently interviewers would ask what sorts of projects or engineering related hobbies I have. They're not necessarily looking for me to have brought a mass-produced consumer product to market in my spare time... most mechanical engineers I've met seem to be excited enough if you talk about working on cars or bikes.
I can see how software engineering may be similar. They may not be expecting you to be working on some hugely popular app, they may just be trying to get a gauge on what you're really passionate about. I don't like to wrench on cars in my spare time, but I've still gotten job offers after it comes up. In the end it's just a matter of finding the team that has similar values to you.
REI has actually begun a fairly substantial investment in improving the quality of their private brand in recent years, actually building an engineering team to take a critical look at everything that they're putting out instead of just relying on the word of whoever they're sourcing it from. I would expect the REI brand to improve a good bit in the coming years
The problem with relying on "security through obscurity" for developing your initial CAD models is that you won't be able to patent these designs. You're making a public disclosure about your concept before you file, so if you intend to protect your hardware concepts through patent protection you'd be better off using something like Autodesk Inventor Fusion 360 (which is free for hobbyists, students, and even startups making less than $100k/year, if I remember correctly). I think OnShape made a big mistake by removing the ability to keep any of your designs private without paying.
That being said, if you're working in the open source hardware space or just don't plan on patenting your work, OnShape could be a good option.
The gelatin covering the board does serve a purpose--it helps with vibration, among other things. It's called a potting compound, and you'll find it around electronic components in other high-vibration applications (automotive, power tools, etc.)
Exactly, it wasn't until I got to the 7th paragraph--which mentioned Santa Monica--that I realized that the article was in the LA Times and was not talking about Italy. I'll admit I was confused by a Rastafarian storefront owner being interviewed, but I've never been to Italy so for as much as I know it may be plausible...
One of the largest takeaways that I had from most history classes that I took is that events rarely have a single cause--and complex events such as the Arab Spring and Syrian civil war typically have many, many layers of causes (even if they aren't all clear at the time). Insinuating that all of that happened because Pvt. Manning released secret documents does a disservice to any attempt to understand the complex events that we see in the world today.
The bicycle infrastructure that is mentioned in the parent comment would go a lot further to helping many Americans towards a more active lifestyle (and do so in a fairly cost-effective way). Combining ridesharing with mass transit isn't changing the fact that someone would be sitting down for an hour or more of their day that they could have spent moving under their own power. The change that the parent comment is advocating for would aim to get people off their butts and using their legs.