Row provides some insights as a lawyer for death row inmates. Chief among these insights is that we should for the earliest intervention possible.
Author: Daniel
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Kevin Slavin: How algorithms shape our world
Algorithms are progressively doing more for us as computing continues to integrate itself into our world. Slavin talks about some ways that these concepts are shaping our world, literally and figuratively.
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“The Richest Man in Babylon” by George Samuel Clason
Clason uses a fictional story line, set in the height of the Babylonian empire, to distill his wisdom on the accumulation of wealth and wise money management. While at times the stories seem unnecessary, they help to reinforce the importance of the point Clason is trying to make without bearing down into boring numbers and statistics. -
Good old check depositing days of yore
My bank recently started allowing me to deposit my checks through my phone (I know, a cool feature that almost every other bank had, but they give me free checks so I stick with them). I had been really happy when I first got the feature, I could hardly wait to use it. Now, I am considering not using it any more because I found it introduced a void in my life.
I live 30 minutes away from the nearest branch of my bank. Conveniently, the bank is surrounded by a fully featured city complete with shopping and delicious food vendors. Thus, previous to my mobile check cashing days, checks meant not only money (which is always a good thing) but also a drive with a friend (or friends) and then often a meal with said party before another drive back home. It was a rare excuse to spend time together. While under the guise of necessity, everyone knew that it only takes one to deposit a check yet we were all glad for the time spent together and the excitement of breaking out of escaping, however shortly, the boring cycle that small towns can lock you into.
Now I find myself in a new quandary. While I fully recognize that my previous reasoning was nearly invalid, I am struggling to come up with a new excuse of any validity. No excuse seems to be able to combine sufficient seriousness to justify the drive while still allowing enough levity to not encumber the evening.
“Want to go want the wind mills?” is dismissed with, “That’s a good date, but not a good group activity.”
“Want to go shopping and have dinner?” is met with, “If we had money to spend on frivolous things.”
“Want to peruse a distant thrift store?” gets, “That’s a long way for nothing.”
Even if I break down and call it what it is: “Want to go catch some dinner?” I still have to overcome, “What’s wrong with the restaurants in town?”
Alas, I will still use my mobile deposits because I would feel lame to not use it (plus, mobile deposits do not cost gas to drive 30 minutes one way), but I will still fondly remember the “good old check depositing days” of yore.
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IFTA: All in the wording…
In my new work we deal with a lot of taxes. In fairness, I do very little with the actual taxes. No, I have fun building the spreadsheets that calculate them–which I can say is rather nerve racking as the Federal Government is not very forgiving when mistakes are made–but I digress.
One of our most frequent taxes is called the International Fuel Tax Agree (or IFTA). It applies to the United States and most of Canada and was developed as a way to avoid the old method of making a truck register for fuel taxes in each state they would be traveling through. So, in general, IFTA was a really good idea all around.
One day my boss asked if I could make a diagram that explains how IFTA works so our clients could better understand it.
I said, “Sure… How does it work?” In defense of my question, I knew how it worked because I reviewed the formulas that make up the calculations that determine the taxes we report. I was really hoping for exactly what my boss gave me: an oral version of the formulas, which follow:
Total miles / Total gallons = MPG
State miles / MPG = Taxable gallons
Taxable gallons – Gallons bought in the State = Net taxable gallons
Net taxable gallons * Tax rate = Tax dueIt is no wonder to me that people get confused on how the tax works. After a few minutes, it hit me: IFTA is actually very simple. Instead of thinking about the formulas we use to generate taxes amounts, I just had to think about what the tax was actually taxing (the key is in the MPG calculations). Thus, the grand conclusion is that IFTA is a calculation of fuel consumed while traveling through the state. In other words, how much fuel would you have needed to buy to operate in a given state. Sure, there is some averaging in there, but that is just to make it calculate easier.
It felt good to take something as complicated as the robust formulas and summarize it in a handful of words.
IFTA: A tax on the fuel you used in a state.
(Okay, two handfuls and a toe, but it is still much less complicated than the original formulas. A copy of the diagram is attached for amusement.)
How IFTA is Calculated. ©2012, used by permission. Details available upon request.
