Automobile Safety
“Are the best performers the biggest and heaviest vehicles on the road? Not at all. Among the safest cars are the midsize imports, like the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord. Or consider the extraordinary performance of some subcompacts, like the Volkswagen Jetta. Drivers of the tiny Jetta die at a rate of just forty-seven per million, which is in the same range as drivers of the five-thousand-pound Chevrolet Suburban and almost half that of popular S.U.V. models like the Ford Explorer or the GMC Jimmy. In a head-on crash, an Explorer or a Suburban would crush a Jetta or a Camry. But, clearly, the drivers of Camrys and Jettas are finding a way to avoid head-on crashes with Explorers and Suburbans. The benefits of being nimble—of being in an automobile that’s capable of staying out of trouble—are in many cases greater than the benefits of being big.”
The Two Things
Many are corny, but some not.
Knology network blocked by Microsoft (sometimes)
Isn’t this great. I switch to Knology from Comcast for cable internet at home which otherwise seems just fine plus being $20 cheaper, but now I just discovered that Microsoft blocks Knology’s network from some of their sites.
For example https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/ gives me this message:
“You are not authorized to view this page
The Web server you are attempting to reach has a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to access the Web site, and the IP address of your browsing computer is on this list.”
Annoying since that’s a site I use as a professional resource.
Update the next day:
I can access the website mentioned above now. Interesting.
value of code
“When management talks about the value of code, they’re really talking about the value of the experience that the engineers gained by developing the code, as expressed in the code. The problem is, most companies let the value walk out the door (either through layoffs or attrition), leaving them with “value” that the new engineers don’t understand, because the value is really the synergy of the code and the engineers who wrote it.”
Siegelman released
Link to al.com article. The whole Siegelman prosecution seemed a little odd to me.
This Harper’s blog has some good write ups on the Siegleman story.
Cost per mile to drive a car
This article is a good summary of expenses. I hadn’t realized that the IRS mileage rate is up to 50.5 cents per mile.
This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises
link to the PDF
Rent vs. Buy – the buying arguement
This writeup points out why you should buy instead of rent.
The next slum?
Rent vs Buy – the renting arguement
Here’s the Link.
IMO, people way overestimate the benefit of the mortgage income tax deduction.
Vantage Point
We went to see Vantage Point last night. Don’t bother seeing it, in fact I wouldn’t even bother renting it. The movie flashes back to a single starting point multiple times to show the story from the “vantage point” of the different characters. After the third flashback it was all getting a little tiring though. I think there were a total of six flashbacks. The concept seemed overplayed. Anyway, don’t bother…
“Scientific research has indicated that lightly roasted coffee brewed strong is a better antioxidant than green tea, black tea or cocoa”
I KNEW coffee was good for you: Link
via Abnormal Returns
Subnet calculator
I had need of a subnet calculator a couple of weeks ago. Beanstown has put up his own handy subnet calculator.
Banks already being bailed out on huge scale
via Abnormal Returns
Mobile, AL
NYT article from 2007 on visiting Mobile, AL.
Taxes on the self-employed
This article was next to the above article.
I fell in love with a female assassin
via Kottke
St. Louis Metro Evening Whirl
A newspaper dedicated solely to crime reporting in St. Louis. Here’s an RFT article on the Whirl. I had no idea the Whirl existed until now.
This week’s TWiT is pretty good
Every so often there’s a TWiT that really goes deep on whatever business/tech they happen to be talking about that week. This week’s was one of those.
I’ve been an on and off reader of Dave Winer’s site for years. First time I’ve ever heard him talk though. I’ve had the impression from various things I’ve read in the past that he’s kind of an ass, but I didn’t get that from the TWiT.
Lively Discussion
There’s a lively discussion going on over at BeansTown. Most notably this post.
