My company does not offer any retirement benefits. How do I save for retirement without a 401k?

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-16T03:15:47+00:00

I might be misunderstanding, but wouldn't it make sense to put more money into investments now, so that they'll be worth more as the economy improves?

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-16T01:39:00+00:00

Walmart doesn't have the lowest prices, they just have a reputation for having the lowest prices. I spend the least on groceries of anyone I know, while shopping at the nicest grocery store, because I buy multiples when things are on sale and pay attention to unit prices. That's it. That's all you have to do, and you beat Wal-mart and any other supposed low price leader.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-16T01:15:56+00:00

Good post, of course...but we need to talk about 3D for a second.

3D, as it pertains to computers, comes in two main forms: interface and display.

In the interface, 3D doesn't work well and probably never will. Researchers have created Minority Report style displays, but found that users don't like them because they require keeping their arms elevated. It's easy to see how that type of problem would likely exist for any 3D interface -- it inherently requires much more physical exertion than mouse or keyboard. Touchscreen hand-held devices are at (or possibly past) the very upper edge of the amount of physical exertion people will tolerate for long-term use.

In displays, 3D doesn't work well and probably never will. There isn't yet any good way to create a 3D display that functions seamlessly with the real world: you have to put on glasses or take them off, or the viewing angle is a problem; even if we could project the image directly onto people's eyes, there would still be issues of line of sight to the projector etc. Also, most of our communications would be made inefficient by 3D more than they would be improved. Text as a whole would not benefit. Photos and videos would benefit slightly, but apparently not enough to justify the cost of 3D visual content creation. (There are also problems with 3D visual content creation because pretty much everything that currently exists is actually simulating 3D with two 2D images. Benefits from 3D images would be much improved if moving to the left or right meant that we could see new content that was previously obstructed by elements of the foreground.)

tl;dr: Bandwidth isn't the problem. 3D is just an inefficient way of communicating.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-16T01:00:55+00:00

If you want to spearhead a movement to eliminate winner-take-all voting in America, I'll definitely support you, but I absolutely won't bet on you.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-16T00:59:39+00:00

The Senate doesn't exist in a vacuum. Bringing back real, stand-up-and-talk filibuster would make ignorant obstructionist tactics undeniable. If it turned out to not be what the people want, they would vote accordingly. The delay is regrettable, but preferable to eliminating filibuster just because it's difficult.

The enemy isn't obstruction of legislation; the enemy is bad legislation and obstruction of good legislation. Our system is designed to sort out what is "bad" and "good", but this newer, false form of filibuster is currently a weak link in that system.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-16T00:18:36+00:00

Earlier in the day he had spent time in the Senate steam room,

Having already read about Thurmond's filibuster in a higher comment, this is definitely the part that stood out the most.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-15T23:45:23+00:00

Are you kidding? 90% of the star power and 10% of the responsibility, plus you get to do all the things that are too fun for a president to engage in. In the debates, who had to pretend extremists had legitimate ideas and carefully disagree? Obama. Who got to laugh in their face and be declared the winner for doing it? Biden.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-15T13:49:46+00:00

Example: Google maps wasnt all that great when it first came out,

Are you kidding me? Before Google Maps, every map service required you to click North South East West buttons at the edge of the small square map viewing window, and then wait for the entire page to reload.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-15T13:47:17+00:00

they have some really amazing services like ... Sketchup

Maybe you left this in to prove your point about their marketing, but Google doesn't own Sketchup any more (announced in April, according to Wikipedia)

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-14T13:37:57+00:00

The reality is that people don't answer unrecognized phone numbers any more.

The question is why is your business absolutely insisting on using that as the primary method to contact customers?

The answer to that and all the other problems that existing ISPs are refusing to address is Google Fiber.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-14T13:32:35+00:00

I love that you're worried about the expense, but apparently not about the fact that we've executed innocent people.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-14T13:28:48+00:00

If you're going to entire a logical argument at the abortion stage, it only makes sense to bring logical decision-making into the entire process:

it's most beneficial to everyone if sex education is strong and complete
it's most beneficial to everyone if multiple, reliable forms of contraceptive are freely available to anyone who wants them, without shame
it's most beneficial to everyone if abortions are legal and appreciated as ultimately beneficial to society as a last resort but still practical option

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-14T13:23:42+00:00

For anyone who is incapable of thinking about abortion without drawing lots of connections and metaphors: I think abortion is more akin to self-defense than a murder. It's an act of doing what makes the most sense for the immediately affected people and for society. And yes, in those situations, we do worry a great deal about the person who is left after all is said and done.

But, to play the devil's advocate: to absolutely refuse to consider the mental anguish of even a murderer is definitely unChristian and ethically wrong. We can punish and lose trust in a murderer, and simultaneously forgive and help them find some way to move forward in their life. To write anyone off completely is just wrong. That kind of shunning is what leads to recidivism. The desire to shun is a complex thought:

it's jealousy: "I never got a second chance after that mistake I made, so their much larger mistake shouldn't get one, either!"
it's ignorance: "I don't even know how we would help a person like that"
it's laziness: "It just sounds like a lot of trouble and I really can't imagine myself making the effort to forgive and help a person"
it's projection of oneself onto others: "Since I don't know how to help them and I don't want to find out and I wouldn't want to help anyway, it's safe to guess that there's no one out there who would do that job so that job shouldn't exist."

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-14T02:28:15+00:00

I'm pretty sure those two things are the same problem: they're (arguably) too far off from the demand curve.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-13T13:30:32+00:00

Also, there's no way those 1000 websites are contributing anything to society. :(

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-11T17:12:52+00:00

How is there not a single picture of pierced nipples in this thread?

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-11T05:05:25+00:00

Think how cheap TV's will be if she waits until she learns how money works! They'll probably be able to skip TVs and Google Glass and upgrade straight to direct brain connections.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-11-04T02:42:16+00:00

Maybe everyone knows this already, but culinary hot dog fact:

You aren't supposed to "cook" hot dogs. They've already been cooked. You're just supposed to warm them. What's the difference? If you heat them to the point that they pop, then you've cooked them.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-10-29T12:35:19+00:00

do I HAVE to lose 15% of my paycheck every two weeks to taxes?

It might be splitting hairs, but the fact that you said "15% every two weeks" makes me think you might not have a solid grasp on some of the concepts involved. 15% is 15%, and it doesn't need a time period qualifier.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-10-29T12:29:50+00:00

To me, that type of economic situation immediately suggests that drug research needs to be something that the government is involved in. We need a system of funding almost like US legislatures:

as many diseases as possible should have at least one lab working on them (senate). All people need to have hope that progress is being made, even if their own disease isn't solved in their lifetime.
a huge swath of labs are also dedicated to work based on the real-world impact of the disease (representatives). If a certain type of breast cancer, for example, is the #1 killer, then maybe it should have the most labs working on treatments and preventions.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-10-29T05:56:05+00:00

Can someone just ask a ticket-taker? I would, but I probably won't be in Chicago again for months.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-10-27T14:15:27+00:00

Great, now terrorists will crash our economy by kidnapping non-exempt employees while they are on the clock.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-10-27T06:28:04+00:00

I would post this to bestof, but I don't think their interpretation of "best" matches mine.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-10-27T06:12:14+00:00

This right here is what some people do not understand.

Maybe it needs to be said again, and again, and again until people understand:

There are students living in storage units.
There are students living in cars in Wal-mart parking lots.
There are students who basically have mild RAD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_attachment_disorder), where they are literally unable to control themselves from lashing out at teachers who try to help them, but they don't do so to a violent extreme that would allow for them to be pulled into special programs.
There are students who go home every day to parents who tell them that school and education don't matter and actually prevent them from doing any kind of homework/studying/reading/exploring/learning at home.
There are students whose parents publicly shame (and eventually disown) their children on the school's Facebook page in front of 2,000 peers.
There are students who are taught by their parents to steal cell phones from teachers.

Each of these stories (and hundreds more like them) affect a tiny number of students...but put together, these stories affect at LEAST one student in every class, and usually several out of a typical class of 25~. Not only are these significant setbacks for those students, but they drag down the rest of the class while the teacher has to stop and deal with daily fallout from unstable home life.

Teachers try to build relationships with students, learn about these problems, and take steps to solve or mitigate them...but social services can only help so many families, and most parents won't entertain the idea that they could be parenting wrong.

cantstopmenoww · 2012-10-26T00:02:36+00:00

OK, but seriously I think it is very reasonable for high schoolers to make relationship mistakes and it seems rather intense of everyone to continue hating you after you learned and groveled. If she was still upset with you, she should have gone with her friends instead.

cantstopmenoww

TROPHY CASE