riddler

The benchmark recovery rate for collections is 14%. A reasonable offer on debt is 8% not 2%. Add to that the 20-35% fee that the collection agencies add, you are looking at a decent profit. That's why there are so many debt collection services in the U.S. I won't even start on what the corporation has already written off as bad debt on their taxes, but suffice to say that with enough creative financing, one can turn 100% of a bad debt into only about a 75% loss. That's why there are so many credit card companies in the U.S. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

In this case, I think it was the rough air that we were flying through It wasn't a jump plane - it was a ferry for passengers to get to another island. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm pretty sure you just made that up. There are 218 million adults in the U.S. How does a 1 to one million sampling ratio imply any sort of statistical significance, when it comes to the opinions of a large population? Additionally, how do you define church-goer, anyway? Gallup did a poll where they asked how often people go to church at least once a week, and the response was 48%. But statistical samples show that only about 20% actually do. So people lie about going to church. Do they think God won't know? Maybe those same people lie about their opinion. Is is really a good idea to condone torture in a Christian church? When their patron was tortured to death? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Don't agree - to me, the most equitable way to tax is everyone pays the same percentage - flat tax. That includes a socialist aspect, because everyone pays the same proportion of their income, and it factors in the reality that many people don't even make enough money to pay an equal share. Then, if you want to get even more socialist, there is the Graduated Flat tax, which allows those in the lower brackets more breathing room, but also opens the door to government abuse (since they decide the graduation levels). Of course, on the other side of it, corporations will always be allowed to abuse write-offs, so it's still fairly balanced. Our current system of Progressive tax allows the most cheating on both sides, and really punishes the people that try to be earnest. It also promotes an entire industry devoted to taxes that keep lawyers (and lawmakers) employed. Personally, I would rather pay more in flat taxes than spend weeks trying to figure out what I can and can't write off. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The rest of the article shows a 12% gap, and less than 750 people surveyed. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/30/religion.torture/index.html I'd have to see a larger statistical sample before I agreed with the statistical significance. I think given a bigger sample, the diffference would narrow a bit. Given that there are a LOT of church-goers in the U.S., there's no reason not to interview more people. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

In this case, computer graphics and creative photograph made up for the missing rules of physics. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Well, after he said that the girls like it, everyone suddenly became more tolterant and understanding. Could dreads be the next fashion-trend for all the lonely guys on dz.com? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The article implies that the issue was the pilot, not the Cessna. Do you feel OK about posting your doubts about the aircraft? If so, can you compare to your experience jumping Cessna's in the US? Some of those, I had my doubts about, too I will also say that I flew a Chinese Y-12 to Kadavu. The stall indicator was buzzing for a lot of the flight, the brakes squealed like they were about to fall off, and I'm sure that they were not flying pressurized at all. Maybe that's normal for small aircraft in Fiji. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

If that's true, then could we have accomplished the same scientific advancement, in the same amount of time, without creating the breed of pets? I'm not a scientist, but given the vast amount of the same research on other animals that has already been done, my guess is yes. The downside of creating a new breed of pet is the heretofore unknown health problems and disease that we are creating in dogs in order to have a novelty. We've already tampered with the evolution of wolves enough to create dogs with a tremendous amount of health problems. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I see that as part of the issue, but I also see it as a way to skirt term limits. Term limits help reduce political corruption, but they also allow the ideals to continue. If you side with certain issues, you don't have to worry if your candidate is term limited - just vote for the next person in line, and you will get nearly the same agenda. It also explains why in this many years, we've been so reluctant to face our real problems - the parties want to ensure power by avoiding the issues that make us face inconvenient truths, and have only unpopular solutions. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What if a network showed people how to make home-made bombs, or encouraged terrorism? Or crack computers? Overall, I agree with you, censorship of television has gone too far because of some antiquated moral beliefs about dirty words. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What you said was this: To which I refuted that the debt is not wiped completely. In fact, the card companies will sell the debt at a loss, but still make some money on it. Then another company will assume that bad debt. So in this case, neither the original company, nor the assumer of the debt will take a complete loss. In fact the assumer, given a block of debt with a few hundred or thousand obligations, will eventually make a profit. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

So you're saying that when they gave me the initial card, and said that is was a fixed interest rate, and the terms and conditions stated that they could not change the interest rate without changing the cardholder agreement, that it was really a variable interest rate? It's more accurate to say that when I get a card, and have it for 6 years, and it's guarnateed to be a fixed interest rate at 8%, I do not expect them to send me routine cardholder contract changes (which I only agree to by not cancelling the card), and on one "routine" change, they bury, in the legalese, a change, which they promised would never change, and jack up the rate to close to 30%. To be clear, the initial card was promised at 8%, and it was not a variable-rate card. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Oh, let me tell you about my experience with American Express

I figured that, because what you were implying simply does not exist, so I apologize for baiting you with the question. I know that too. There are better and more humane ways to accomplish this science. To reiterate my position, I believe that genetic experimentation for the purposes of real science that benefits medicine is a good thing. I just don't believe that was the reason this "experiment" was done. I think that the Korean cancer researchers saw the profit potential of creating a dog that lights up under blacklight for the amusement of humans. Considering that one poster linked to the GloFish, which definitely resulted in direct profit for those researchers, that only confirms my suspicion. So far, I have yet to read a post or related article on this thread that convinces me that this is "good science". One poster made a comment about how gene therapy can be applied to dogs to help with diseases such as hip dysplasia. I see that as potentially a good thing, but I don't see this particular experiment helping that branch of medicine. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not true. I worked for 8 months for a financial company that sold block default credit accounts. This aspect of the credit industry is as slimy and underhanded as the entire rest of the credit world. Typically, one or two people at a crediting company would decide who gets to buy the block debt. There were a number of buyers that had a huge profit incentive to buy this bad debt at pennies on the dollar, and frequently bribed the credit "official" (usually, some low-pay-grade desk jockey) to "win" the blocks - there were people that took them to strip bars and gave them wads of dollar bills, there were others that paid for home remodeling for them - all for the chance to acquire all this bad debt because they knew it would make them rich. The company I worked for was trying to change all that by creating an online auction process, similar to eBay, where every buyer would have an equal and legal chance to acquire the debt. Bottom line is, there is plenty of recourse for credit card companies to make some money from bad debt, although they will take an overall loss, they will get a portion of the money back in the resale of the bad debt. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

+1 I really, really hope she does. It would be better than Dan Quayle running. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I think it's possible, but from the way the story is crafted, I say this one is definitely fabricated. Don't mess with Ambien - my father in law took the normal dosage for a week, then started have hallucinations. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

If you think a credit card contract gives you that level of detail, you've never read one. Maybe you can show me an example of any card contract that says under what circumstances and by how much they will randomly raise the interest rate. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm fine with that - people can choose, animals can not. In fact, if the Korean scientists did the experiments on themselves, and tried to make themselves glow, I would be happy for them. People that treat animals with absolutely no respect get my utmost disdain. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090430/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_credit_cards So, come on, all you Obama-haters - let us know how you think this is a terrible service that he is doing for the country. I'm interested to hear the right-wing "spin". Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Most people in America have immune systems that are already compromised, due to poor diet and environmental pollution, stress, lack of sleep, etc. Our bodies are constantly being bombarded with viruses and bacteria - why don't we get sick every day? The answer is our immune system. Two ways to look at the issue: 1. The germ theory says that we transmit diseases to each other, and it's the transmitter's fault that we got sick. It also says that those people that survive develop a resistance to the germs only after getting sick. 2. Another way to view it is that it's our fault for compromising our immune systems, and we take action to improve our immune systems to prevent futher illness. Not everyone that is exposed to a virus gets sick. If you live a clean lifestyle, eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, get regular exercise, plenty of sleep, miminize your stress levels, you may be one of those people. You won't have to get sick to build an immunity if your immune system is already strong enough to kill the viruses and bacteria in the first place. I don't know if a really strong immune system could stop each and every virus, but I do know that our ability to stop most of them comes down to how healthy of a lifestyle we choose to live. For every person that has gotten sick from swine flu, there are probably several that have been exposed, but their immune systems killed the virus before the virus got ot of control. If you want to be one of those people, take care of your body. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I think they're having trouble separating which viruses are killing people. The WHO has so far only confirmed that 7 deaths in Mexico were from swine-flu. It's possible that half or more were from other flu strains, but it's too early to tell. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

+1, I have a 30-month-old daughter, and also an 11-month old daughter. But I agree that people ignore the fact that flu is still one of the leading virus killers in the world, much more than HIV. The media is hooked on this story because it feeds fear, and has an easy name. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Lol - now, you're just making me look foolish OK, I admit, the glow-in-the-dark fish has already been done. And only $18.50 per-pisci, except in California. Those damn liberals with their gun laws and genetically-engineered-glow-in-the-dark-fish laws! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD