@ryanrossette: Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. If Adam's take-home went down, something else must have been going on.
As a software developer, I've found most of the time, "think outside the box" is a euphemism for "a senior manager screwed up on the budget and time estimates, and now we have to save his bacon."
@acidrain69: Um, actually, the details are on Wikipedia: [en.wikipedia.org]
It wasn't a joke, either. McDonald's was deliberately and knowingly serving coffee at a temperature far above industry norms, and knew of hundreds of customers who had been scalded by it. The lady in question suffered third degree burns in her crotch, required skin grafts, and spent eight days in the hospital.
It wasn't a joke, either. McDonald's was deliberately and knowingly serving coffee at a temperature far above industry norms, and knew of hundreds of customers who had been scalded by it. The lady in question suffered third degree burns in her crotch, required skin grafts, and spent eight days in the hospital.
@arttmonkey: I am a chemist, and this ought to work fine. If you look at the MSDS for Pledge Dusters, they just substitute silicone oil and petroleum distillate for the olive oil. Oh, and they have fancier equipment for making them in the factory.
@Edfire77: It's chemistry.
Normally, dry cotton cloth won't pick up dry dust. Adding the olive oil and lemon juice changes that. The olive oil and some parts of the lemon juice ("terpenes", that provide the citrus scent) attract places on dust particles that are "hydrophobic" (don't like water), so the cloth picks them up. The other parts of the lemon juice - including the sour part - attract places on dust particles that are "hydrophilic" (like water), so the cloth picks those up too.
I looked at the MSDS documents for Pledge Dusters, and they work that way, too, except they substitute silicone oil and petroleum distillate for the olive oil.
Normally, dry cotton cloth won't pick up dry dust. Adding the olive oil and lemon juice changes that. The olive oil and some parts of the lemon juice ("terpenes", that provide the citrus scent) attract places on dust particles that are "hydrophobic" (don't like water), so the cloth picks them up. The other parts of the lemon juice - including the sour part - attract places on dust particles that are "hydrophilic" (like water), so the cloth picks those up too.
I looked at the MSDS documents for Pledge Dusters, and they work that way, too, except they substitute silicone oil and petroleum distillate for the olive oil.
You can get some pretty sweet deals out of this. My wife and I were on our way back from Europe, and they asked for volunteers at Heathrow. We got a round-trip ticket to anywhere United flies - which is pretty much anywhere in the world we'd care to go. Oh, and a night in a hotel in London. Ah, we suffered.
I also like the idea of asking for first class on the next trip, and access to the lounge.
I also like the idea of asking for first class on the next trip, and access to the lounge.
@Skynet928: No, the iron doesn't use less electricity because of lower voltage. Electrical energy is measured in watt-hours, and is independent of the voltage used to achieve it.
It takes a certain amount of energy to evaporate a given amount of water - see [en.wikipedia.org]
That will be the same no matter what device you use to do it, or what voltage is supplied to the device. In fact, if you air-dry, the energy is removed from the air and the air gets colder. And when you put rubbing alcohol on your skin and it feels cold, that's because the alcohol is evaporating by sucking heat energy out of your body.
Now, no electrical device is perfectly efficient around that - in fact, they're all wasteful to greater or lesser degrees. But if you really want to know, you have to measure it. You can't just say, "This device runs on 110V, and this other device built on completely different principles does the same job at 220v, and so of course the one running at 110V is going to use less energy to do the job", because that's just not true.
It takes a certain amount of energy to evaporate a given amount of water - see [en.wikipedia.org]
That will be the same no matter what device you use to do it, or what voltage is supplied to the device. In fact, if you air-dry, the energy is removed from the air and the air gets colder. And when you put rubbing alcohol on your skin and it feels cold, that's because the alcohol is evaporating by sucking heat energy out of your body.
Now, no electrical device is perfectly efficient around that - in fact, they're all wasteful to greater or lesser degrees. But if you really want to know, you have to measure it. You can't just say, "This device runs on 110V, and this other device built on completely different principles does the same job at 220v, and so of course the one running at 110V is going to use less energy to do the job", because that's just not true.
I'm sure doing a BPM analysis would be useful for people who can't help but move to the beat. My brother-in-law is a severe case - he can't even listen to music while running because it messes him up.
Me, I'm really good at keeping cadence independent of any beats I'm hearing. And when I run, I'm mostly interested in getting some exercise, and having a good time while doing it so I want to do it again. That's a lot more important to me than optimizing performance.
So my running playlist just contains things that put me in a good mood, mostly peppy, but includes some really slow things like opera. My iPhone has hours of that stuff, and I just keep it on shuffle, and add to the list when I get some fun new music - Chickenfoot, I'm lookin' at ya here.
You have to figure out what you want, and what works for you to achieve that.
Me, I'm really good at keeping cadence independent of any beats I'm hearing. And when I run, I'm mostly interested in getting some exercise, and having a good time while doing it so I want to do it again. That's a lot more important to me than optimizing performance.
So my running playlist just contains things that put me in a good mood, mostly peppy, but includes some really slow things like opera. My iPhone has hours of that stuff, and I just keep it on shuffle, and add to the list when I get some fun new music - Chickenfoot, I'm lookin' at ya here.
You have to figure out what you want, and what works for you to achieve that.
@acraft23: Self employment tax == FICA for employed people == Social Security and Medicare benefits when you and the people you love get old.
Just because you *can* avoid a tax doesn't mean you *should*.
Heck, I could go get my lunch free every day by going down to St. Vincent de Paul and standing in line - and having volunteered there, I know they have really good food. But I prefer to leave it to the people that really need it and go shop at the supermarket.
Some folks might call it being a chump not to work the system, but I consider it being responsible and carrying my fair share of the social load.
Just because you *can* avoid a tax doesn't mean you *should*.
Heck, I could go get my lunch free every day by going down to St. Vincent de Paul and standing in line - and having volunteered there, I know they have really good food. But I prefer to leave it to the people that really need it and go shop at the supermarket.
Some folks might call it being a chump not to work the system, but I consider it being responsible and carrying my fair share of the social load.
@gerrrg: By law, certain titles mean you're a corporate officer, and that means something significant in some big companies. President, vice president, secretary, and treasurer are always on that list, and I'd imagine Chief [Whatever] Officer would be too.
On the flip side, because it takes an officer to legally sign paperwork on behalf of a corporation, big banks often make all their branch managers VPs.
And in small companies, all bets are off. You might as well call yourself "Master of the Universe" or "Grand Supreme Poobah".
On the flip side, because it takes an officer to legally sign paperwork on behalf of a corporation, big banks often make all their branch managers VPs.
And in small companies, all bets are off. You might as well call yourself "Master of the Universe" or "Grand Supreme Poobah".
I've been a freelance software developer both with and without a corporation. Now, I don't have one, and can't imagine going back to having one.
When I did have a corporation, it was mostly a time and money sink: $800 a year for the State of California, various government forms to file and corporate minutes to keep up, and an extra set of tax returns to either file myself or pay an accountant for.
Originally, I did it for "freelancer's vanity", as the article says. But what did having a corporation really get?
Well, no extra business or income - in my part of the field, people are interested in freelancers for their qualifications, experience, and history of satisfied customers. And the legal protections were limited because I had to personally guarantee most of the corporation's major financial transactions.
Nowadays, I choose profitability over vanity, and enjoying my time over filing paperwork. I did learn, however, how easy it is to grant yourself a corporate title, so I no longer am impressed with a business card that says "CEO" or "President".
Of course, your field and situation may be different, so you should definitely talk with your accountant and attorney.
When I did have a corporation, it was mostly a time and money sink: $800 a year for the State of California, various government forms to file and corporate minutes to keep up, and an extra set of tax returns to either file myself or pay an accountant for.
Originally, I did it for "freelancer's vanity", as the article says. But what did having a corporation really get?
Well, no extra business or income - in my part of the field, people are interested in freelancers for their qualifications, experience, and history of satisfied customers. And the legal protections were limited because I had to personally guarantee most of the corporation's major financial transactions.
Nowadays, I choose profitability over vanity, and enjoying my time over filing paperwork. I did learn, however, how easy it is to grant yourself a corporate title, so I no longer am impressed with a business card that says "CEO" or "President".
Of course, your field and situation may be different, so you should definitely talk with your accountant and attorney.
@ape_ck: "Hackers are going to get your information if they want it badly enough, you can't stop them."
Speaking as a data security professional, that is total crap.
Hackers get in because somebody leaves a door open. Close the doors, they can't get in. And it's quite feasible to do that well enough to entirely prevent data theft by network intrusion.
Speaking as a data security professional, that is total crap.
Hackers get in because somebody leaves a door open. Close the doors, they can't get in. And it's quite feasible to do that well enough to entirely prevent data theft by network intrusion.
@Phrosty: Sure. If you have to get a signed contract to somebody in a hurry, fax is a great way to do it. And it provides a paper trail that works much better in court than email does.
Speaking as a chemist, this would work really well on greasy stains, probably better than just rubbing damp soap on them, or even dishwashing detergent.
With a greasy stain, oily molecules (and their attendant grime/dirt/food/etc.) attach to the cloth fibers, and what you want to do is pry them loose. Water won't work, since oil and water don't mix. So one thing you can do is use soap or detergent, the molecules of which have a hydrophilic (water-loving) head and a hydrophobic (oil-loving) tail. But for tough oily stains you want a high concentration of those hydrophobic tails, not a lot of water with a few tails. So you want the soap just diluted enough to be liquid, which is what you'd get with that soap gel.
Another way to loosen a greasy stain is to add more oil, and then get rid of that. I was dating a very nice woman who brushed her white dress jacket against a dirty part of my car and got a nasty black car grease stain on it. I took her up to my apartment, rubbed olive oil into it (making it look far worse), washed that out with dish detergent, and it was spotlessly white again. After eighteen years of marriage to said woman, I'm still the designated spot-getter-outer in the household.
With a greasy stain, oily molecules (and their attendant grime/dirt/food/etc.) attach to the cloth fibers, and what you want to do is pry them loose. Water won't work, since oil and water don't mix. So one thing you can do is use soap or detergent, the molecules of which have a hydrophilic (water-loving) head and a hydrophobic (oil-loving) tail. But for tough oily stains you want a high concentration of those hydrophobic tails, not a lot of water with a few tails. So you want the soap just diluted enough to be liquid, which is what you'd get with that soap gel.
Another way to loosen a greasy stain is to add more oil, and then get rid of that. I was dating a very nice woman who brushed her white dress jacket against a dirty part of my car and got a nasty black car grease stain on it. I took her up to my apartment, rubbed olive oil into it (making it look far worse), washed that out with dish detergent, and it was spotlessly white again. After eighteen years of marriage to said woman, I'm still the designated spot-getter-outer in the household.
@kettlewhistle: Yes, there's a little chemistry involved. See my other post here.
As a Silicon Valley person, I've noticed that my colleagues in Germany, France, and Spain get similar amounts of useful work done, of equal quality, with far fewer hours.
Some of it is mindset. For instance, visiting one of my ex-employer's offices in France, they know they have 35 hours per week to get things done. So there's no chit-chat, no hanging in the break room, no surfing or goofing off. They work full blast for about 3.5 hours. Then by law, they have to take a two hour lunch off the premises - lots of the programmers play soccer. Then they work full blast for 3.5 hours again, and then they go home. They're alert and fit and work like crazy when they're working, and then they go home and have a life.
And some of it is management style and mentality. In Silicon Valley, managers are willing to do stupid stuff that wastes employees' time because, of course, if you screwed up as a manager, you can expect your programmers to work extra hours to make up for it, and because they're on salary, it doesn't cost the company any extra. In Europe, if you waste employees' time, then things don't get done - so managers there don't seem to do it as much.
I've seen the other extreme in Japan and China. It's very common for salaried software developers to be in the office thirteen hours a day, six days a week - but as long as you mostly stay at your desk, whatever you do is ok, including sleeping.
I would also point out that money-circulation measures like per-capita GDP are terrible indicators of wealth and particularly happiness.
Let's say I go buy a crappy chair for $100, and after a year it breaks and I throw it out and get another one, so after ten years I've spent $1000 on crappy chairs and have yet another busted one. And my neighbor buys a really nice $400 chair and then it's still in fine shape after ten years. During that time, I've contributed $600 more to GDP but, by any reasonable criteria, he's been wealthier and probably happier about his chair.
Some of it is mindset. For instance, visiting one of my ex-employer's offices in France, they know they have 35 hours per week to get things done. So there's no chit-chat, no hanging in the break room, no surfing or goofing off. They work full blast for about 3.5 hours. Then by law, they have to take a two hour lunch off the premises - lots of the programmers play soccer. Then they work full blast for 3.5 hours again, and then they go home. They're alert and fit and work like crazy when they're working, and then they go home and have a life.
And some of it is management style and mentality. In Silicon Valley, managers are willing to do stupid stuff that wastes employees' time because, of course, if you screwed up as a manager, you can expect your programmers to work extra hours to make up for it, and because they're on salary, it doesn't cost the company any extra. In Europe, if you waste employees' time, then things don't get done - so managers there don't seem to do it as much.
I've seen the other extreme in Japan and China. It's very common for salaried software developers to be in the office thirteen hours a day, six days a week - but as long as you mostly stay at your desk, whatever you do is ok, including sleeping.
I would also point out that money-circulation measures like per-capita GDP are terrible indicators of wealth and particularly happiness.
Let's say I go buy a crappy chair for $100, and after a year it breaks and I throw it out and get another one, so after ten years I've spent $1000 on crappy chairs and have yet another busted one. And my neighbor buys a really nice $400 chair and then it's still in fine shape after ten years. During that time, I've contributed $600 more to GDP but, by any reasonable criteria, he's been wealthier and probably happier about his chair.
@starfury5: Yes, that was quite good.
@Bill-Lee:Yep, I'd be interested in that!
@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Simak and Aldo Leopold both grew up in rural Wisconsin and wrote about it - Simak in his science fiction, and Leopold in his classic "Sand County Almanac," which is a love-letter to the natural world written before ecology was something people battled about. I find both their writings to be pastoral symphonies.
@arthur001: I love Way Station and have a lot to say about it, and disagree with much of Josh's review, but Arthur, you pretty much said it all. Thanks!
Simak's writing is indeed warm and quite human. I look at him as kind of a forerunner to some of Ursula LeGuin's work, particularly Always Coming Home.
I've met people in rural Maine who are a lot like Enoch's neighbors. They might wonder at him not aging, but they certainly wouldn't consider it their business to bother him about it or blab to outsiders.
And while I work in Silicon Valley and consciously project a post-post-post-moderist snarky techno-geek facade, I'd be delighted to move to some large forest acreage and spend the next few decades having coffee with the neighbors, rambling through the woods, reading literature, and participating in the very slow process of breeding blight-resistant American chestnuts.
