gosh, that's why I never switched from the original Master of Orion, which is what I still paly on a MacBook retina.

And, of course, nethack, the only game that *matters*

hawk

Executive options were actually a reform, to align the interests of executives with those of stockholders. They worked in one direction (up), but not the other--once the options were "under water", the executives had no reason *not* to "swing for the bleachers", risking whole company.

The solution is to align in *both* directions, so that the executives lose when the company loses, not just wins when winning.

This could be accommodated with a couple of changes in the tax code. Require a large part (majority) of high compensation to be in the form of stock: if your pay for the month is $100k, you get $60k of that as stock at current market prices. We need a (politically unpopular) tweak: this would currently create taxes on $60k. Instead, give the stock at a 0 basis, so there is no tax now, but the entire amount is taxed when sold--and require that the shares be held for a minimum number of years.

At this point, when the shares go down, so do the executives' worths. with options, stock going down merely increases the incentive for risky behavior seeking high gains.

But what do I know--I just have a Ph.D. in economics.

(doc)hawk

No.

It would be labeled GNU/RTOS, and everyone who objected would be accused of ignoring RMS' contribution . . . :)

hawk

Metal detector.

No electronics allowed.

hawk

But "you are certified as knowing the material" is the *definition* of a "C". B and A are for more than that.

hakw

I used to simultaneously use two measures when grading tests.

I'd grade a test, awarding points, and then put it (without regard to this "raw" score) in one of four piles: A, B, C, and "unfortunate".

There was a general consistency between the stacks. When the raw score was inconsistent with the stack, I'd look more closely at it, and usually give it the benefit of the doubt.

Within the piles, I would deal with +/-.

Then, I would record the grades converted numerically. I used bases of 95/85/75/etc. for A/B/C, with +/- 3 for + and -. (In small classes, I tended to do an "eyeball average, though).

You *can* have high demands (e.g., actually learning), not inflate your grades, and still get high evaluations--but it takes a couple of years to get the needed reputation. There *are* enough students that want to learn . . .

And in another six years, I'll be done paying tuition for my own kids, and can return to the classroom . . .

dochawk, j.d., ph.d., esq.

Nah, he's right.

I shouldn't have honked at that guy who drifted across the center while looking down, and just let him hit me.

Same for the folks who change lanes without looking; there's usually another car in the yet next lane to push me into for a cozy metallic sowdown . . .

hawk

In Nevada, this is actually a moving violation!

The only lawful use of a horn is as a safety warning, and waiting is not a safety issue.

One of my partners recently handled a ticket for someone who managed to get charged with this.

hawk

The mac's 68000 chip, though, was the same generation as the 8086.

Intel went from 8 to 16 bits, while motorola put 32 bits inside the 16 bit package at a time neither *had* a 32 bit bus available. They also indicated the expansion path (extra register length, etc.) that a fully flushed out 68k would have.

The 68k pushed what could be done, while the SX were deliberate limitations

That was approximately when the accounts became required for posting, and we complained about cookies. (well, those that caved in right away, some of us stubbornly held out and ended up with these high ids)

hawk

There was a crossover point in the vary late 90s. I started seeing things posted that I'd already read in the print version of the WSJ. Before that, you were likely to find things earlier here than any other single place.

hawk

Yeah, but the 3 digit IDs are suspect: you guys all caved instantly when taco insisted on cookies . . . some of us held out a while before caving. :)

hawk, who still blocks almost all cookies

I don't block ads.

I block things that blink or move, making text hard to read; things that try to track me; and things that make my browser sit idle.

I first starting doing this with junkbuster on a 486 when two pages (on my large for the time 17" screen) loaded so many blinky things that it brought the system to a crawl.

I'm fine with ads. I'm not ok with distractions, spying, or delays.

hawk

Physics has a several hundred year head start on Economics. In some ways, we're about where Newton was . . .

And we have older folks who haven't progressed what was taught when they were in grad school (e.g., Krugman). Samuelson observed that the field progresses "one funeral at a time."

And testing hypotheses in economics tends to take longer, and we aren't allowed to tinker with economies to take measurements, for some reason :) [Congress hating competition?]

hawk

About two thirds of things are within one standard deviation of the mean, 95% within two, and 99% in three.

This applies to all bell-shaped data, which is nearly (but not quite) all of it. Slightly broader rules (Chebyshev) apply to all data, regardless of distribution)

There is no similar statement for average deviation.

hawk