Viewing profile — thufry

I shoplifted the 3-volume hardcover set of Feynman Lectures from the Borders bookstore in Cambridge in 2003. I would be happy to make partial amends for this by donating the full r…

It's easier to price a luxury car appropriately if the taxpayer is contributing $7,500.

People who spend a lot of time working with and thinking about the Internet, and not a lot of time working with and thinking about government, often fall victim to the delusion tha…

Your ad seems to suggest desperation -- "I need cash right now." That's not a bad thing to say, but when you're in that situation you should be playing in your wheelhouse. If you'r…

The Tesla is a great car but it's absolutely insane that American taxpayers are donating $7500 to allow rich people to buy $75,000 luxury cars.

This is the wrong approach -- why not take a job as an ESL teacher (you won't find many people here hiring for that) by searching in the right channels?

Never. The word "terrorism" is a word used by the incumbent power to describe that which is "other." They get to decide who the word applies to and who it doesn't.

Here's the reason that nobody likes to say: at some point, we're going to have a war with China, and then we'll need air superiority.

Clicked the link expecting a $10-20 price. Saw the screenshot, glanced up to the 4.5 star reviews, and bought it. Probably 15 seconds from landing to purchase. I have bought $10-30…

The blog post is at Wolfram Research's web site. Of course it is going to promote Mathematica, which is actually great software, too. When you look at a photo essay on Canon or Nik…

In the analogous retail situation, with physical coupons, there is no "coupon code" field -- the cashier does not ask you "Do you have any coupons today?" Even worse would be for t…

Predictions of technology from long ago just aren't interesting, since it's trivial to fantasize about technologies without having to think about implementation. I can predict toda…

I just wanted to see if anyone would agree with it.

I wouldn't use it because I would get claustrophobic. But I don't think it's being engineered for claustrophobes -- we'll take the train or drive, and people who are comfortable wi…

I wouldn't even be 1% surprised if they forced Swartz into committing suicide, by threatening to harm his loved ones if he didn't. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_suicide

This is why I personally refuse to engage in any discussions about race or gender issues except online. Low reward, with a high risk of a career-ending brand as a sexist or racist …

Sure, but I see people going at each other like this all the time on TV, regardless of gender - we no longer have the mutual respect of the Edward R. Murrow days. I think this is a…

What is the purpose of the word "mansplaining" in the opening paragraph? It sounds like the author is claiming sexist dismissiveness while offering no evidence of such.

I am someone who has only the vaguest interest in my fellow human beings, and has a great, loving relationship with my girlfriend. Different people want different things. I enjoy m…

In the United States, most public education is administered at the town level. Because towns are so small compared to counties/states/nations, the variance among towns in parameter…

This author reaches pretty far. The NSA paid Microsoft to acquire Skype? You can't just materialize multiple billions of dollars on a public company's income statement.

Of course - Snowden was about as "low level" of a guy as they come (contractor for four months) and was able to basically access everything.

Probably around 2%.

I'm using the word "1%" in the recently popularized figurative sense, the people who make enough money to outsource things like hailing a taxi or doing grocery shopping.

All of these new services that enable poor or lower-income people to serve rich people (Uber, TaskRabbit, Instacart) have been enabled by two main things: an economic recession tha…