Daniel Dulitz

"The investigation last year by the House Energy and Commerce Committee determined that WellPoint and two of the nation's other largest insurance companies -- UnitedHealth Group Inc and Assurant Health, part of Assurant Inc -- made at least $300 million by improperly rescinding more than 19,000 policyholders over one five-year period." I think that's the basis FWIW. - Daniel Dulitz

I certainly hope so! - Daniel Dulitz

This is lovely! Inside joke t-shirt woudl be "Boyfriend Quality: We use math." - Daniel Dulitz

This is uplifting. Gee, maybe it's not all about the business. - Daniel Dulitz

I disagree with parts of this (I think it's too polyanna-ish) but I agree with the sentiment overall. - Daniel Dulitz

Wow, I have a hard time seeing this as reasonable behavior on Apple's part. - Daniel Dulitz

It's all reasonable. Drink the Kool-Aid. :-) - Piaw Na

This is to prevent anyone from playing Robot Unicorn Attack on the iPhone… - Amit Patel

Seems like just last week they were announcing this. - Daniel Dulitz

Except this ignores the role that the level of the RMB plays in causing (historically and presently) the imbalances complained about. If countries running trade surpluses recycle them into dollars, what the $@!# is the US supposed to do with those dollars? (Well, it would have been nice to have invested them in productive capital assets, but why wouldn't that have just caused other currencies to appreciate more slowly? The level of various fixed exchange rates over the years has been chosen to achieve trade goals.) - Daniel Dulitz

"Rest of world" has never ever lost from the development of any part of the world, colonial or otherwise. The only possible "loss" would be comparative, that is, China could get "more rich" than the US does from its colonial activity. More people with money to buy stuff is just a good thing. It's hard for people to let go of the competitive instinct though -- they're always comparing themselves to others in this world as opposed to comparing themselves to themselves in other possible worlds. Sad. - Daniel Dulitz

Short term effects of RMB appreciation may be a wash, but the long term effects of RMB non-appreciation are pretty awful. - Daniel Dulitz

"When the value of complexity turns negative, a society plagued by an inability to react remains as complex as ever, right up to the moment where it becomes suddenly and dramatically simpler, which is to say right up to the moment of collapse. Collapse is simply the last remaining method of simplification." This is a very good post. And suddenly Redstate.com makes sense. - Daniel Dulitz

Why yes, how'd you guess? - Daniel Dulitz

Debby will be the invincible warrior queen. - Daniel Dulitz

Cool! But what do you mean non-romantic? Marriage is all about contract law. - Daniel Dulitz

According to Wikipedia, in some states it is legally a conditional gift. I wonder whether it was legally regarded as such back then. "In some states of the United States, engagement rings are considered "conditional gifts" under the legal rules of property. This is an exception to the general rule that gifts cannot be revoked once properly given [...] once the engagement has been broken, the ring should be returned to the donor." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Simon

This research is from Sydney, where I am, and also it's a very strong result. One study only, but IMO well-designed and with results that (a) are in areas likely to matter in daily life, and (b) are of a magnitude that people would notice on a daily basis. Brain energy and brain performance are related. Very interesting. - Daniel Dulitz

I generally agree with this -- but people install ad blockers because they don't like ads in general, not because my site's ads are bad. In fact, my site's ads might be great, but they'll still get blocked. The people who write ad blockers (and the people who install them) don't care about such distinctions. - Daniel Dulitz

Taxonomy of reactions. These are great! - Daniel Dulitz

Rands is fun to read. - Amit Patel

I'm not sure why a change in interface requires a change in business models at all. Case in point: How is it that with Custom Search Engine or AdSense for Search, Google loses "the touch point with the consumer?" I don't think it does. I think it gains a new touch point with the consumer, one that is potentially more valuable. - Daniel Dulitz

Perhaps I could commute in this. - Daniel Dulitz

ultralight rules prevent flight over built-up areas. But if you lived close to the bay, you might be able to fly over that :) - Private Sanjeev

Or at least to the Park and Ride on 280! :-) - Daniel Dulitz

My dad is an old hippie who likes to ride motorcycles and drive too fast. He's broken many bones on motorcycles and is generally risk prone. He once told me that ultralights were some of the craziest goddamn things he's ever seen and that he wouldn't get in one if you paid good money to see it. You see, ultralights have the disadvantage of not being built as reliably or durably as small-craft planes and having fewer safety systems and things to save the passenger when something fails. Parachutes are hard to deploy reliably when strapped into an ultra-light and the same goes for this jetpack thingy. #shitmydadsays - no name

IV is pretty much evil as far as I can tell. How to make lots of money while impeding progress. - Daniel Dulitz

Fan-diddly-tastic. - Louis Gray

They need to work harder. They're not yet causing enough outrage to reform the patent system. - Private Sanjeev

They're trying to stay in the background so they don't cause outrage. But I think they're well on their way... - Daniel Dulitz

He gets it! He gets it! - Daniel Dulitz