You kids! His persona is often troll... however, his operandi is journalism. Remember that? You know, telling the ugly truth (as you saw it), without fear or hinder?
Cute. To illustrate the sum of limits, however, I prefer a graphic with sum -> 1. Take an empty circle then add a chunk of shaded semicircle, then add one quarter, then add one eighth... you get the idea.
With this method you won't be able to tell converging sequences from diverging ones. Suppose I used your circle and put in the first hundred terms of the harmonic sequence (divided by 10 or so, to fit in the unit area).
Seems to me there are more Reddit-type comments submitted lately. It is something I have been very conscious of, much stronger than a hunch or gut feeling. I'm curious as to why you tried to measure this - do you still suspect a drop in the mean quality of the HN clientele despite what the /classic page might suggest?
It looks incredible. I think Google are right to be concerned. Others should be too - take the mortgage example: it wouldn't be hard to integrate current deals on offer from mortgage providers.
One query I'd like to build is a TCO for a particular model of car based on running cost, service cost and the probability I will die in a crash which obviously limits my future earnings.
It looks great. Now let's compare it to the competition... Amazon's web page for the Kindle shows only one entry under 'Browse similar items in Electronics': 'Kindle DX'
10.2 Inch (diagonal) electronic paper display
1024 x 1280 pixel resolution at 160 pixels per inch
16-level grey scale
Mini-USB connector
Wacom® penabled® touch sensor input with Stylus
...
Tax isn't about raising money... its purpose is to instill fear and drain your mental energy so you are not equipped to compete with the bureaucratic entity that imposes tax on you.
"never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity"
Honestly I'd like to believe there's some secret Government cabal out there finding indirect ways to drain people because at least then I'd know Government can do something competently. I mean, even if Government’s doing a bad thing competently we can fight to change that.
But I think the reality is that big bureaucracies end up creating so many rules and regulations that not even they can sort it out. Which is why we have such a complex tax code in the first place and why Government has to force each citizen to do their own taxes.
It's my understanding that the tax code is complicated because we are a loophole abusing people, and we must be handled with kid gloves. It's not just a matter of "chaos and stupidity breeding new bureaucracy." The goal is more noble: create a system that can't be gamed but is flexible enough to account for every exchange of money, as well as many non-monetary exchanges of some value.
Consider this though: Maybe congress thinking it can create a system that accounts for every exchange of money and not have loopholes is the stupidity.
I personally think most bureaucracy starts out with good intentions. The tax code included. But with every well intentioned law to close a loophole they added more and more complexity and therefore more and more possible loopholes.
The tax code is only complicated because of the people exploiting the loopholes. Way back in the beginning, it used to be ridiculously simple: you pay X% of your income. But then, people began arguing over what income was. And that's when it started getting complicated.
He also speaks his mind like every fat-mouthed, intelligent American from Franklin to Vidal did. So shut your trap and get on with life. lol.