Random links
- Why heavier people should pay more to fly
- "Since 2000, the extra loading that an average adult passenger carries is about 2 kilos. So what does this increase mean for additional fuel consumption on a big, modern aircraft like the A380? On a route like Sydney to London via Singapore, it means around 3.72 extra barrels of jetfuel per flight is burnt, which at current prices cost about $472."
- The NYPD Zagat Guide to Newark’s Best (and Most Threatening) Muslim Restaurants
- "... the AP broke the news that the New York Police Department had spent months spying on Muslims in Newark, N.J. ... we've re-arranged some of the dry NYPD 'notes,' Zagat-style, to bring you: The NYPD Guide to Newark's Best Muslim Restaurants."
- The Statistical Significance of Beer
- "... Gosset (1876–1937) aka “Student” – he of Student’s t-table and test of statistical significance – rejected artificial rules about sample size, experimental design, and the level of significance, and took instead an economic approach to the logic of decisions made under uncertainty. In his job as Apprentice Brewer, Head Experimental Brewer, and finally Head Brewer of Guinness, Student produced small samples of experimental barley, malt, and hops, seeking guidance for industrial quality control and maximum expected profit at the large-scale brewery. In the process Student invented or inspired half of modern statistics." So it seems that statistics owes a lot to beer.
- Food tax: Adding GST to food will benefit the poor, economists say
- The basic argument here seems to be that though the poor spend a higher percentage of their income on food, the rich spend more dollars on it. The article proposes that "with the added revenue from taxed food, governments might lower the sales tax rate to 2 or 4 per cent as well as increase the low-income tax credit." Still not quite sure if I buy the whole argument - how likely would a boost in, e.g., the low-income tax credit, at time of implementation have in the long-term? Often these things end up just as line items in the government's general revenue / general expenses and can easily be independently adjusted at a later date.