Posts by linger
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Southerly: Now I Am Permitted, in reply to Hebe,
I should have thought of them as the problem…
"We don’t need no steenking badgers” [ UHF (1989), parodying Blazing Saddles (1974), parodying The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)]
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Southerly: Now I Am Permitted, in reply to Sacha,
currently refurbishing cardboard box
Connecting one of those to David’s toilet would probably have provided a better outcome. Well, out fall , anyway. (ETA: but yes, a bucket, even better.)
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Hard News: Kitchen Hacks, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Once they start to resemble natto, they're almost certainly passé.
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Hard News: Kitchen Hacks, in reply to Stephen Judd,
I had the idea that a working stove was a requirement
In NZ, maybe (though "stovetop" may be sufficient?) but just try finding any apartment in Japan with an oven. Mine has a microwave; a toaster oven; and a gas ring -- and no room for anything else.
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Up Front: Somebody Think of the Young Adults!, in reply to Russell Brown,
the “This Herald Editorial is Batshit” column
– should be a more regular feature; at least weekly.
Their editorials, on the other hand, probably need to be a less regular feature. -
Legal Beagle: MPs' Pay, in reply to BenWilson,
though, anyone espousing such an opinion must fall into one of three camps, none of which is a good look, because either
(a) they genuinely hold that opinion of others, because they believe that is how they themselves would behave given the opportunity (in which case: would you give this person a job with any responsibility over others?); or
(b) they genuinely hold that opinion of others, because they believe that they personally are morally different from & better than the lower social classes (in which case: is this “self-aggrandised bigot” [to quote Tim Minchin] really the right person to be representing the public?); or
(c) they are cynical hypocrites who don’t believe in even their own excuses for shafting the poor.... Or have I missed some more charitable logical possibility here?
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Legal Beagle: MPs' Pay, in reply to BenWilson,
The distribution doesn’t have to be normal for a target of reducing the standard deviation to work well enough for this purpose. Though that doesn’t by itself guarantee that the “typical” wage won’t decrease relative to the cost of living.
But the bigger problem may be convincing parties to find, and to field, enough political candidates who have both (i) principles favouring income equality, and (ii) the ability to communicate those principles.
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Legal Beagle: MPs' Pay, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
And indeed, there's the rub. It's hard to incentivise MPs to do anything for the general public when they perceive themselves to be so far removed from it.
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Legal Beagle: MPs' Pay, in reply to Brent Jackson,
I could be wrong, but I read Ben’s point as being that the median income (for the purpose of calculating politicians’ salaries) should be calculated across all potential wage earners, including the unemployed, rather than excluding the unemployed. Which will make some difference to the median, as the salary corresponding to the 50th percentile will be shifted down in rank by (roughly) half the number of unemployed.
But still, you’re right, such a calculation base doesn’t then incentivise MPs to bring about any increase to the salary of the bottom 50%.
Hmm… The most direct way of incentivising policies leading to increased income equality would be to index changes in politicians’ wages inversely to changes in the standard deviation of the income distribution.
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Hard News: Kitchen Hacks, in reply to BenWilson,
two unknowns, the pressure and the temperature.
Three – we also don’t know the ionicity of the solution. (It’s not pure water, and depending on what you’re cooking, the difference may not be negligible. Increases in the ion content increase the boiling point of the liquid, by about the same order of magnitude as your pressure effect in a normal saucepan with lid – i.e., typically by one or two degrees.)
But yeah, I agree with your underlying point: for boiling, you should only use the minimum energy input needed to maintain boiling temperature.