An Immodest Proposal: Time for a Sex Tax - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog (4)
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Stephen J. Dubner (68)
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Freakonomics (210)
4 days, 21 hours
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Photo: Michael Karshis Whereby: + It has been observed that Democrats are generally in favor of taxation and Republicans are generally opposed to unnecessary sexual activity; and whereby: + The unintended costs of sexual activity are unacceptably high, particularly in the political arena (c.f. Messrs. Clinton, Foley, Craig, Edwards, and most recently one Mr. Levi Johnston, to name [...]
The X-Files, Economics Edition: A Guest Post (3)
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Peter Leeson (6)
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Freakonomics (210)
6 days, 2 hours
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Peter Leeson is the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at George Mason University. He is particularly interested in the economics of 18th-century pirates, as reflected in his forthcoming book "The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates." His other interests include dominoes and U.F.O.'s. With such an odd and diverse portfolio, he is [...]
Marriage Proposal in Google Street View (46)
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Ionut Alex Chitu (1183)
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Google Operating System (1212)
1 week, 6 days
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"My name is Michael Weiss-Malik, and I work for Google. I don't work on the Street View team, but I interact with them pretty regularly. They decided to coordinate a pre-announced Street View run outside Google's Mountain View offices, with the idea that Googlers could line up along the street and appear in the imagery. So I put together my "Proposal 2.0" billboard and showed up, hoping that it'd be readily visible. And it was," ...
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KID said:
Если "проехать" налево (прямо?) до перекрёстка, то люди изчезнут :(( монтаж? их захавал ктулху? поработил Google? или Google делает склейку не только для сайтов, но и для StreetView? :)
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Sai Prasad Kothapalle said:
Leslie... now please don't reject
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Szestek said:
Można i tak :)
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J€$$€ said:
"googlers" are such epic nerds
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Dedalus said:
It happened in Stanford.
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Party People said:
Wow. This is Melvin Nerdly at his finest.
How to Give a Man Hug That Is Not a Bear Hug | The Art of Manliness (2)
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2 weeks, 2 days
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Thankfully there is a bridge between the handshake and the bear hug: the American man hug. This is how to give an American man hug to a male friend.
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Party People said:
Very insightful for those who didn't go to an all-guys high school.
Big Brother cutting insurance bills - MSN Money (1)
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2 weeks, 2 days
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It's called usage-based car insurance, also known as pay as you drive. A device in your car tracks your actual mileage, and, come renewal time, your rate is calculated partly on your usage -- and potentially even on your driving habits.
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Party People said:
I've put less than 2k miles on my car since January. Where do I sign up?
FCC to Decide in Battle for TV Spectrum - WSJ.com (1)
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2 weeks, 5 days
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The technology companies are trying to prove they can share some of those channels without harm. They say their wireless gadgets with "smart radios" can automatically sniff out local broadcast channels and avoid them.So far, though, the FCC's tests of these prototypes -- in labs, a football stadium and even a Broadway theater -- haven't offered a clear conclusion. Recently, FCC engineers spent a day at FedEx Field, the home of the Washington Redskins. Several ...
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Party People said:
Forget that last shared article, this one better explains what the concerns are from broadcasters, and it sounds like they're legitimate. I think, though, that even if the technology isn't quite up to the task yet, it is going to happen eventually. And that's pretty exciting, I'd say.
Google: "Wi-Fi 2.0" Plan Would Benefit Public -- and Our Bottom Line (1)
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2 weeks, 5 days
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Sam Gustin says: Google is a master at portraying the public interest as aligned with its own.In the latest example, the company is pulling out all the stops in its campaign to open up the unused "white spaces" in the radio spectrum between television channels for new wireless networks.And although the company frames the issue in terms of the benefit to the public, it isn't trying to hide the fact that it stands to profit ...
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Party People said:
Am I missing something? "But television broadcasters have been skeptical of the plan, warning that running a Wi-Fi network on the 'white spaces' could interfere with existing TV signals." Isn't all TV going digital in February anyway? So wouldn't that problem be a complete non-issue at that point?
Download of the Day: Gmail Attachment Reminder script (1)
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2 weeks, 5 days
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Greasemonky script Gmail Attachment Reminder gives you a gentle nudge if it looks like you've forgotten to attach a file
Juror Unanimity Isn’t Necessarily a Great Thing: A Guest Post - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog (1)
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2 weeks, 6 days
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There is something quirky at play here too: the U.S. is one of the few democracies around the world to have a unanimity rule for juror decision-making. The Times’s Adam Liptak has been doing a series on American Exceptionalism — “commonplace aspects of the American justice system that are virtually unique in the world” — but he has yet to focus on the puzzling persistence of unanimity as our jury decision rule.Here are a few ...
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Party People said:
I seem to remember questioning this when I was younger and first learning about juries and trials, but I don't remember ever receiving an answer that made sense to me. I guess over time I just accepted it, but this is well-reasoned and thought-provoking and now I'd have to say I'm against the rule of necessary unanimity.
John McCain's Intellectual Property Problem (1)
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3 weeks, 1 day
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Sam Gustin finds it interesting that John McCain says how "committed" he is to protecting intellectual property, when he's been repeatedly accused of stealing intellectual property for political gain.In his brand new technology policy statement, Senator John McCain lists as one of his top priorities "effectively protecting American intellectual property in the United States and around the globe."Yet for at least the third time, McCain's presidential campaign has been accused of using others' intellectual property ...
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Party People said:
And how does McCain's lack of knowledge on how to use the internet affect all of this?
Dartmouth's 'Hostile' Environment - WSJ.com (1)
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3 weeks, 1 day
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Often it seems as though American higher education exists only to provide gag material for the outside world. The latest spectacle is an Ivy League professor threatening to sue her students because, she claims, their "anti-intellectualism" violated her civil rights.Priya Venkatesan taught English at Dartmouth College. She maintains that some of her students were so unreceptive of "French narrative theory" that it amounted to a hostile working environment. She is also readying lawsuits against her ...
Almighty Supremebeing Allah Arrested | News | Fox 61 WTIC-TV Connecticut (1)
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3 weeks, 2 days
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He was charged with Reckless Driving, Disobeying an Officers Signal, Interfering with an Officer, Criminal Attempt/Sale of Cocaine Criminal Attempt/Possession of Cocaine.
United Airlines: O'Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow (1)
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3 weeks, 3 days
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Will the torture ever end? Only if United does. Travelers and the beleaguered air-transport system would be better served by United's creative destruction: Liquidate it and let stronger hands manage the pieces.
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Party People said:
No kidding. I was appalled by what United does to its customers, and consequently what I was trained to do to our customers, and now am training other employees on what to do to the customers. Absolutely every action is about squeezing every dollar out of passengers without giving them anything except if it's illegal not to.
Eight Strikes and You’re Out (1)
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3 weeks, 4 days
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John McCain recently tried to underscore his seriousness about pushing through a new energy policy, with a strong focus on more drilling for oil, by telling a motorcycle convention that Congress needed to come back from vacation immediately and do something about America’s energy crisis. “Tell them to come back and get to work!” McCain bellowed. Sorry, but I can’t let that one go by. McCain knows why.
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Party People said:
Gotta love politicians. Both senators are out campaigning on the platform of renewable energy, yet they both didn't do their jobs and show up to vote for tax credits that would help make solar and wind energy companies cost effective.
The Sneeze - Half zine. Half blog. Half not good with fractions. (2)
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1 month
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Type a little on your computer and magically a pizza shows up at your door. It's the closest thing we have to Star Trek's food replicator. Only it takes about 25 minutes to work. And the food delivery unit at my Domino's has a bad mustache.
Digital Domain - First It Was Song Downloads. Now It’s Organic Chemistry. - NYTimes.com (1)
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1 month, 1 week
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All forms of print publishing must contend with the digital transition, but college textbook publishing has a particularly nasty problem on its hands. College students may be the angriest group of captive customers to be found anywhere.
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Party People said:
This is both unsurprising and somewhat satisfying, thinking about how much money I spent on stupid textbooks I rarely used anyway. Something's going to have to give somewhere, because as long as students are having to pay $100 or more for one book for one course, they're going to find cheaper and possibly illegal ways to get the same info. And if it comes down to students just not buying the books at all, the teachers will start to take notice and stop requiring such expensive books.
Hollywood Credits Anti-Piracy Efforts For "Dark Knight" Success (1)
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1 month, 1 week
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Sam Gustin has learned the REAL reason why The Dark Knight smashed box-office records during its opening weekend: Hollywood's anti-piracy efforts.Or so Tinseltown would have you believe.In an L.A. Times article which can only be described as "bizarre" -- in the words of TechDirt's Mike Masnick -- the Motion Picture Association of America anti-piracy team has taken credit for the film's success.You see, the geniuses at the M.P.A.A. realized that the film's "core audience of ...
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Party People said:
Wow. The MPAA are a bunch of dipshits. Pardon my French.
Op-Ed Columnist - Texas to Tel Aviv - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com (1)
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1 month, 1 week
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Two of the most interesting new clean electron wildcatters are T. Boone Pickens and Shai Agassi.
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Party People said:
Sigh... maybe one day we can be as cool as Israel.
