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Category: Miscellaneous
Harry Potter And The Cryptocurrency of Stars | Kalzumeus Software
Patrick McKenzie’s attempt to explain cryptocurrencies (e.g. BitCoin, Stellar) … through Harry Potter fanfic.
With apologies to J.K. Rowling, here we go:
Harry Potter And The Cryptocurrency of Stars | Kalzumeus Software
What Happened with LEGO – Reality Prose
“What happened with Legos? They used to be simple. Oh come on, I know you know what I’m talking about. Legos were simple. Something happened out here while I was inside. Harry Potter Legos, Star Wars Legos, complicated kits, tiny little blocks. I mean I’m not saying it’s bad, I just wanna know what happened.” — Prof. Cane – Community
Let’s take a look at the history of LEGO pricing and try to figure out what is going on.
If all the signs lead to the price of LEGO not increasing overtime, then why is there a common belief that it has? I have couple hypotheses:
- Children who were bought LEGO as gifts are now old enough to buy it for themselves and for others as gifts and they are surprised by the price.
- The advent of collectible LEGO sets and the internet has driven the secondary market of LEGO through the roof
Is Every Speed Limit Too Low?
Americans nearly universally speed, and excess speed is a factor in many accidents. But what if higher speed limits made roads safer?
The answer lies in realizing that the speed limit really is just a number on a sign, and it has very little influence on how fast people drive.
a minority of drivers do follow the speed limit. … This is important because, as noted in a U.S. Department of Transportation report, “the potential for being involved in an accident is highest when traveling at speed much lower or much higher than the majority of motorists.” … Traffic engineers believe that the 85th percentile speed is the ideal speed limit because it leads to the least variability between driving speeds and therefore safer roads.
In its 1992 report, the U.S. Department of Transportation cautioned, “Arbitrary, unrealistic and nonuniform speed limits have created a socially acceptable disregard for speed limits.”
Source: Is Every Speed Limit Too Low?
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.