Flicker Fusion

Society needs to see science not as a luxury of funding but as a fundamental activity that drives enlightenment, economics, and security. Science agencies should never have to go hat in hand to congress.

One idea would be for the USA (or any other country for that matter) to earmark 10% of its budget to R&D. Like a good startup company might do. That way everyone knows what to expect annually. And long term research projects will have some hope of funding stability.

Society needs to see science not as a luxury of funding but as a fundamental activity that drives enlightenment, economics, and security. Science agencies should never have to go hat in hand to congress.

One idea would be for the USA (or any other country for that matter) to earmark 10% of its budget to R&D. Like a good startup company might do. That way everyone knows what to expect annually. And long term research projects will have some hope of funding stability.

—My favorite of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s answers to an ask me anything thread on Reddit. [via tiffehr]

Responsive Advertising

Responsive Advertising

Mark Boulton has some smart thoughts on the many challenges of incorporating advertising with a responsive design. That ads are sold on positioning is particularly problematic – by definition, there is no “above the fold” in a responsive design.

Another ugly aspect of the Zynga story is the use of “Google chef situation” as a metaphor for an employee getting too much stock. That refers specifically to Charlie Ayers, Google’s chef 1999–2006, who reportedly made a giant pile of money from his stock options. To anyone who suggests he doesn’t deserve that compensation: fuck off. Charlie worked incredibly hard at Google and did a great job growing a kitchen from one meal a day for 40 people to three squares for 10,000 people. That kitchen had a huge impact on the success of the company; Google got an extra 200 hours’ work a year out of employees because we wanted to eat at work rather than go out. Charlie personally was responsible for the kitchen’s success. I assume “chef situation” is some sort of class distinction, that chefs don’t deserve as much compensation as the hallowed engineers. That’s disgusting.

Another ugly aspect of the Zynga story is the use of “Google chef situation” as a metaphor for an employee getting too much stock. That refers specifically to Charlie Ayers, Google’s chef 1999–2006, who reportedly made a giant pile of money from his stock options. To anyone who suggests he doesn’t deserve that compensation: fuck off. Charlie worked incredibly hard at Google and did a great job growing a kitchen from one meal a day for 40 people to three squares for 10,000 people. That kitchen had a huge impact on the success of the company; Google got an extra 200 hours’ work a year out of employees because we wanted to eat at work rather than go out. Charlie personally was responsible for the kitchen’s success. I assume “chef situation” is some sort of class distinction, that chefs don’t deserve as much compensation as the hallowed engineers. That’s disgusting.

—

Nelson Minar on one of the many scummy aspects of Zynga’s attempt to force some workers to sell their stock back.

If it were possible for a company to be a douchebag, Zynga is almost certainly it.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are each equipped with six sets, or pairs, of thrusters to control their movement. These include three pairs of primary thrusters and three backup, or redundant, pairs. Voyager 2 is currently using the two pairs of backup thrusters that control the pitch and yaw motion of the spacecraft. Switching to the backup thruster pair that controls roll motion will allow engineers to turn off the heater that keeps the fuel line to the primary thruster warm. This will save about 12 watts of power. The spacecraft’s power supply now provides about 270 watts of electricity. By reducing its power usage, the spacecraft can continue to operate for another decade even as its available power continues to decline.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are each equipped with six sets, or pairs, of thrusters to control their movement. These include three pairs of primary thrusters and three backup, or redundant, pairs. Voyager 2 is currently using the two pairs of backup thrusters that control the pitch and yaw motion of the spacecraft. Switching to the backup thruster pair that controls roll motion will allow engineers to turn off the heater that keeps the fuel line to the primary thruster warm. This will save about 12 watts of power. The spacecraft’s power supply now provides about 270 watts of electricity. By reducing its power usage, the spacecraft can continue to operate for another decade even as its available power continues to decline.

—I love this so much. The Voyager crafts are so brilliantly engineered they’re still humming along, at the outer edge of the solar system, 34-years after launch.

I was not amazed but disgusted when John Boehner and his crew tried to justify the extremity of their position by rebranding the wealthy as “job creators.” While true in a very basic sense, it obscures the fact that jobs are a cost that is voluntarily incurred only as a result of demand. Hiring has no correlation at all to profits or to income - none. Let me keep more of my money without increasing customer demand and I will do just that - keep it. Perhaps I will spend a little more of it, though probably not, but even if I do it won’t help the economy very much. Here is another secret of the well-to-do: we don’t really buy much more stuff than everyone else. It may be more expensive stuff, sure, but I don’t buy cars, or appliances, or furniture, or anything else more frequently than the average consumer. The things I do spend more money on are services such as travel, entertainment, restaurants and landscaping, none of which generate well-paying middle class jobs. There, in a nutshell, is the sad explanation of what has happened to the American economy over the last 25 years of “trickle down” economics.

I was not amazed but disgusted when John Boehner and his crew tried to justify the extremity of their position by rebranding the wealthy as “job creators.” While true in a very basic sense, it obscures the fact that jobs are a cost that is voluntarily incurred only as a result of demand. Hiring has no correlation at all to profits or to income - none. Let me keep more of my money without increasing customer demand and I will do just that - keep it. Perhaps I will spend a little more of it, though probably not, but even if I do it won’t help the economy very much. Here is another secret of the well-to-do: we don’t really buy much more stuff than everyone else. It may be more expensive stuff, sure, but I don’t buy cars, or appliances, or furniture, or anything else more frequently than the average consumer. The things I do spend more money on are services such as travel, entertainment, restaurants and landscaping, none of which generate well-paying middle class jobs. There, in a nutshell, is the sad explanation of what has happened to the American economy over the last 25 years of “trickle down” economics.

—From a self-identified “voice from the 1%” post, summing up everything that is so absurd about conservative fiscal policy of the past 30 years.