Am I in the odd minority who boils the hotel tap water with the coffee maker? Spare the plastic bottles and mitigate the worries about tap water.

Back when I traveled for work room service was deemed no-no by the higher-ups. Every expense had to be reported twice because the company was in the midst of an acquisition. (One to the old company, one to the new company.) Two expense reports, copies of every receipt: that’s enough incentive to avoid unnecessary…

Now that the expected value of a mega-million ticket has surpassed its price (this source calculated it to be $3.23 after taxes), has that changed anyone’s calculus on whether to buy tickets?

SCBLT pointed out that the annuity is structured so that the payout grows at 5% per year, with the average payout staying at $24mil. So I’ve revised the spreadsheet. (Still no promises on accuracy). The new break-even rate is around 3.442%, so this new detail favors the lump sum option because the payouts are smaller…

Ignoring state taxes and assuming no withdrawal, these are the numbers I got. (No promises on accuracy) The 4.53% rate of return is roughly the breakeven point. A higher rate of return will lead to the lump sum option getting the higher ending balance. A lower rate will favor the annuity option. Adding the effect of…

I’ve watched the replays multiple times and can’t see anything definitive. But the argument about the fan in white reaching over the fence and the two fans that actually contacted Betts are reaching even further out makes sense.

Not game development but in Enterprise IT. The manager thought it was totally fine to assign me the day-shift from 9AM-7PM as the sole on-site developer; while also assigning me the role of the lead for the off-site, oversea developers on the night-shift from 9PM to 7AM. The manager’s reply when I asked him when am I…

I’ve “survived” the whole crunch ritual myself. It spanned the 6-8 weeks before the title is due, and we were expected to work 14-15 hour days. I averaged about 104 or 105, and that was lower than most on the team because I had a long commute. Being contractors, we didn’t have much choice other than work the hours…

What about the psychological aspect of the gamble?

Let’s not forget that their supporters are now bending over backward to justify it by claiming “everyone has done it” and “it’s no big deal” and “think of the white male children”. (It’s just a crime, no biggie.) So less than a week of investigation is apparently enough to exonerate Kavanaugh completely and it’d be…

I mean, it’s not new. Two years ago it was “Voters Ignore Women, Elects Trump.” There were more actual evidence and a stronger case against Trump than against Kavanaugh, and Trump still got elected (with the near-unanimous support of the GOP). So this was a losing battle from the start.

Does Amazon / Whole Food offer a good stock option program? And I don’t mean upper management / execs (we all know they get a good program), but do the lower-level employees get one that’s worthwhile? When I was an IT developer for a Fortune 500 company, the stock option program was awful. After 2 years on the job, I…

Maybe it’s what’s left of the Constitution after his most recent turn at trampling all over it.

I only played at the high school level (wasn’t good enough to crack the college team) and that was an acceptable tactic. In doubles, hitting right at the player at the net is pretty normal, but a ground stroke doesn’t have the pace of an overhead. I’d just make sure to aim low; I don’t want the ball hit above the…

I once read a really stupid Forbes financial column about “How to get $5000 income every month” that spent many lengthy paragraphs on building a portfolio with 4% yield then stupidly assumes readers have $1.5 million to put into such a portfolio.

The cynic in me wants to believe Trump is upset because he’s just learning some people didn’t have to pay to keep their victims quiet.

I’ve said it before: fetuses and guns. As long as Kavanaugh is on the “right” aka GOP side on those two issues, most would be happy to overlook everything else.

Here’s a true but gross story.

Amen. I learned that the hard way myself when I was literally coughing up blood in the office one time (after a period of declining health and managers convincing me to “wait until after the project”) and the project manager threatened to fire me if I take time off to go see a doctor. Her exact words to me: “We don’t…

Probably not a popular take, but I do think it shouldn’t be allowed. The receiver is looking up and cannot see if the kicking team is biting; his only defense is that the gunners assumed fair catch was called. If the referees, whose sole job is to watch the action on the field, had to be notified in advance so they do…