Re: [FRIAM] Corporate responsibility wrt health insurance
IMHO. You would presumably be doing business as a sole proprietor and not as a corporation and would hire them as independent contractors, then I think the answer is no, because their contract will bestow no employment benefits. But I am not an attorney, so I'd consult my local friendly employment lawyer. Robert C On 12/5/13 11:26 PM, Russ Abbott wrote: This (finally) leads to the question I want to ask. Let's assume that I as an individual hire 500 people to work for me. I do not incorporate; I just hire them individual to individual. Does anyone know if the law requires me to provide health insurance for them? FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Corporate responsibility wrt health insurance
Dear Russ, Your 500 workers will soon hopefully be covered by the Affordable Care Act. Fortunately, the President, for a change, seems to be making up for businessmen and corporations who don't think paying health insurance is in the interest of their profit making goals. On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 7:34 AM, Robert J. Cordingley rob...@cirrillian.comwrote: IMHO. You would presumably be doing business as a sole proprietor and not as a corporation and would hire them as independent contractors, then I think the answer is no, because their contract will bestow no employment benefits. But I am not an attorney, so I'd consult my local friendly employment lawyer. Robert C On 12/5/13 11:26 PM, Russ Abbott wrote: This (finally) leads to the question I want to ask. Let's assume that I as an individual hire 500 people to work for me. I do not incorporate; I just hire them individual to individual. Does anyone know if the law requires me to provide health insurance for them? FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com -- Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. President, Center for Emergent Diplomacy Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA me...@emergentdiplomacy.org mobile: (303) 859-5609 skype: merlelefkoff FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] King James Programming
On 12/05/2013 05:15 PM, Roger Critchlow wrote: Charles Stross (twitter @cstross) trained up his own off the KJV and the compete works of H P Lovecraft: the strangely open doorway with the generation of poets is enormous. Nice! I can't seem to find a URL or handle for LoveBible.pl, though. Do you know if he's made a trigger available? Or is it just private? -- ⇒⇐ glen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
[FRIAM] Fwd: UTAustinX: UT.5.01x: Linear Algebra - Foundations to Frontiers | edX
Just curious. Has anyone knowledge of this course and/or the school/instructors? https://www.edx.org/course/utaustinx/utaustinx-ut-5-01x-linear-algebra-1162 One interesting thing in the FAQ was computer requirements: What software do I need for the course?https://www.edx.org/course/utaustinx/utaustinx-ut-5-01x-linear-algebra-1162?utm_source=edX+Course+Announcements+Mailing+Listutm_campaign=0dc2b9e000-Student_Newsletter_December_4_2013_OA_TA_12_5_2013utm_medium=emailutm_term=0_237694b56d-0dc2b9e000-39738649# We will utilize VirtualBox, Vagrant, and Git, which are available for free. We have configured a virtual machine for download to ensure that all participants have the same software and environment. With it, you will create a small linear algebra package using Python 3 and iPython Notebooks. Detailed, easy instructions will explain how to download, install, and use the software. If you are registered for the course, you will receive an email alerting you when these instructions become available. You will be able to access them at least a week before the course begins. (Don't be intimidated by the jargon. We'll get you through it.) That, on the one hand, is extraordinarily sophisticated, on the other hand a comment on just how hard it is to configure a desktop environment for class material. Imagine telling someone that you'll have to have a computer within a computer configured correctly to run the Python packages you'll be using! I was more impressed by Stanford's Machine Learning class that just said: Install either MatLab or Octave. All our code will work with that. -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Corporate responsibility wrt health insurance
However, sometimes the people you think are independent contractors actually aren't (determined by audit or by filing a request with the IRS and/or your state). As I understand it, if these people are determined to be employees, then you are an employer and the rules about providing health insurance plans for part- and/or full-time employees apply to you, whether or not you've incorporated. On 12/06/2013 06:34 AM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: IMHO. You would presumably be doing business as a sole proprietor and not as a corporation and would hire them as independent contractors, then I think the answer is no, because their contract will bestow no employment benefits. But I am not an attorney, so I'd consult my local friendly employment lawyer. Robert C On 12/5/13 11:26 PM, Russ Abbott wrote: This (finally) leads to the question I want to ask. Let's assume that I as an individual hire 500 people to work for me. I do not incorporate; I just hire them individual to individual. Does anyone know if the law requires me to provide health insurance for them? FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com -- glen ep ropella -- 971-255-2847 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: UTAustinX: UT.5.01x: Linear Algebra - Foundations to Frontiers | edX
This is exaclty how we operate at my company and I have found it to be an incredible time saver. The alternative requires detective work to solve every problem for every user. If everyone is using the same Vagrant box then solving the problems of one user can be applied to all of the other users. I know python is a prime offender on this kind of configuration issues, but this technique is wonderful for many different sorts of software packages… In one go you can have a complete system up and running with potentially many different pieces of software properly configured and running… The instructions typically go, install virtual box, install vagrant, clone this repo, type “vagrant up”… and you are running. —joshua On Dec 6, 2013, at 10:36 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote: Just curious. Has anyone knowledge of this course and/or the school/instructors? https://www.edx.org/course/utaustinx/utaustinx-ut-5-01x-linear-algebra-1162 One interesting thing in the FAQ was computer requirements: What software do I need for the course? We will utilize VirtualBox, Vagrant, and Git, which are available for free. We have configured a virtual machine for download to ensure that all participants have the same software and environment. With it, you will create a small linear algebra package using Python 3 and iPython Notebooks. Detailed, easy instructions will explain how to download, install, and use the software. If you are registered for the course, you will receive an email alerting you when these instructions become available. You will be able to access them at least a week before the course begins. (Don't be intimidated by the jargon. We'll get you through it.) That, on the one hand, is extraordinarily sophisticated, on the other hand a comment on just how hard it is to configure a desktop environment for class material. Imagine telling someone that you'll have to have a computer within a computer configured correctly to run the Python packages you'll be using! I was more impressed by Stanford's Machine Learning class that just said: Install either MatLab or Octave. All our code will work with that. -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] UTAustinX: UT.5.01x: Linear Algebra - Foundations to Frontiers | edX
Here’s a new slogan off the top of my head: “If it isn’t virtual, it isn’t real.” :-) I use VMWare Fusion on my MacBook Pro, although I’ve generally been impressed with VirtualBox (the price is certainly right). Lately, I’ve been using a VM within a VM. I need to maintain an app on some Windows boxes, but don’t have one myself (don’t want one). To maintain the app, it is easiest to give them a solution that runs in a VM in one of said Windows boxes. To do so, I run Windows on my Mac inside Fusion. I then tried running Ubuntu under VirtualBox in this virtualized Windows box, but Ubuntu wouldn’t boot. It could be that if the outer host (i.e. my Mac) were running VirtualBox instead of Fusion, it would work, but I haven’t tried that. Instead, I run VMWare Player (the free, as in beer, not as in freedom, software) inside this virtualized Windows box and Ubuntu runs fine there. Surprisingly good performance, for a simple LAMP stack running in this double virtualized environment. Anyway, life without virtualization would be a whole lot less interesting. Gary On Dec 6, 2013, at 12:54 PM, Joshua Thorp jos...@stigmergic.net wrote: This is exaclty how we operate at my company and I have found it to be an incredible time saver. The alternative requires detective work to solve every problem for every user. If everyone is using the same Vagrant box then solving the problems of one user can be applied to all of the other users. I know python is a prime offender on this kind of configuration issues, but this technique is wonderful for many different sorts of software packages… In one go you can have a complete system up and running with potentially many different pieces of software properly configured and running… The instructions typically go, install virtual box, install vagrant, clone this repo, type “vagrant up”… and you are running. —joshua On Dec 6, 2013, at 10:36 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote: Just curious. Has anyone knowledge of this course and/or the school/instructors? https://www.edx.org/course/utaustinx/utaustinx-ut-5-01x-linear-algebra-1162 One interesting thing in the FAQ was computer requirements: What software do I need for the course? We will utilize VirtualBox, Vagrant, and Git, which are available for free. We have configured a virtual machine for download to ensure that all participants have the same software and environment. With it, you will create a small linear algebra package using Python 3 and iPython Notebooks. Detailed, easy instructions will explain how to download, install, and use the software. If you are registered for the course, you will receive an email alerting you when these instructions become available. You will be able to access them at least a week before the course begins. (Don't be intimidated by the jargon. We'll get you through it.) That, on the one hand, is extraordinarily sophisticated, on the other hand a comment on just how hard it is to configure a desktop environment for class material. Imagine telling someone that you'll have to have a computer within a computer configured correctly to run the Python packages you'll be using! I was more impressed by Stanford's Machine Learning class that just said: Install either MatLab or Octave. All our code will work with that. -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Corporate responsibility wrt health insurance
It sure would be a lot simpler if everyone (employers and employees alike) simply had to pay into a single plan, like most of the developed world. But, we’re the USA, and we know better :-) On Dec 6, 2013, at 12:39 PM, glen e. p. ropella g...@tempusdictum.com wrote: However, sometimes the people you think are independent contractors actually aren't (determined by audit or by filing a request with the IRS and/or your state). As I understand it, if these people are determined to be employees, then you are an employer and the rules about providing health insurance plans for part- and/or full-time employees apply to you, whether or not you've incorporated. FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
[FRIAM] VM within a VM (was UTAustinX: UT.5.01x: Linear Algebra - Foundations to Frontiers | edX)
On 12/06/2013 10:56 AM, Gary Schiltz wrote: Lately, I’ve been using a VM within a VM. One of the problems I have with this: http://www.simulation-argument.com/faq.html is the potential for infinite regress. At that point, I think it boils down to whether you accept this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bekenstein_bound I remember sitting in on a talk by this guy: http://www.isepp.org/Pages/12-13%20Pages/Bristol.html wherein he posited that a (hypothetical, of course) system of systems universe might actually loop... i.e. yes, it's turtles all the way down, but you could (in principle) mark any given turtle and find your way back to a marked turtle with an ongoing monotonic scale change. -- glen ep ropella -- 971-255-2847 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Why I was wrong about the nuclear option
You are bit by bit dragging me out on thin ice here (statistics and probability) which is fine, so long as you are prepared to rescue me. I think, as a matter of practice, that the strength of an inference is determined *a priori* when you define your population and select your sample size. Does that sound right? The ice is as thin for me as for you but I would think that the probable maximum strength of an inference is determined by the nature of the sample (that can be measured within just the sample). So we can only make very weak inferences concerning life on other planets, because we have a sample size of one. But if the first exoplanet we find with life on it has only hominids, then an inference that 'dominant' lifeforms can only be hominids would appear to double in strength but might not actually be stronger than before at all if it turns out just to be luck. I may revise this opinion upon further rumination, though, as I feel like my analytical skills are not at their strongest currently. -Arlo FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] UTAustinX: UT.5.01x: Linear Algebra - Foundations to Frontiers | edX
Great input, thanks! I admit to being a browser fan-boy just because, beyond needing a modern browser, its config-free. But I'm definitely open to zero-config of any sort. Will report. BTW: The linear algebra course the MOOC is modeled after uses Strang's Linear Algebra. Tom: (10/11/09) you're right, it IS idiosyncratic but I found it compelling, the parts I followed from his video lectures and using his book. -- Owen On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 11:56 AM, Gary Schiltz g...@naturesvisualarts.comwrote: Here’s a new slogan off the top of my head: “If it isn’t virtual, it isn’t real.” :-) I use VMWare Fusion on my MacBook Pro, although I’ve generally been impressed with VirtualBox (the price is certainly right). Lately, I’ve been using a VM within a VM. I need to maintain an app on some Windows boxes, but don’t have one myself (don’t want one). To maintain the app, it is easiest to give them a solution that runs in a VM in one of said Windows boxes. To do so, I run Windows on my Mac inside Fusion. I then tried running Ubuntu under VirtualBox in this virtualized Windows box, but Ubuntu wouldn’t boot. It could be that if the outer host (i.e. my Mac) were running VirtualBox instead of Fusion, it would work, but I haven’t tried that. Instead, I run VMWare Player (the free, as in beer, not as in freedom, software) inside this virtualized Windows box and Ubuntu runs fine there. Surprisingly good performance, for a simple LAMP stack running in this double virtualized environment. Anyway, life without virtualization would be a whole lot less interesting. Gary On Dec 6, 2013, at 12:54 PM, Joshua Thorp jos...@stigmergic.net wrote: This is exaclty how we operate at my company and I have found it to be an incredible time saver. The alternative requires detective work to solve every problem for every user. If everyone is using the same Vagrant box then solving the problems of one user can be applied to all of the other users. I know python is a prime offender on this kind of configuration issues, but this technique is wonderful for many different sorts of software packages… In one go you can have a complete system up and running with potentially many different pieces of software properly configured and running… The instructions typically go, install virtual box, install vagrant, clone this repo, type “vagrant up”… and you are running. —joshua On Dec 6, 2013, at 10:36 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote: Just curious. Has anyone knowledge of this course and/or the school/instructors? https://www.edx.org/course/utaustinx/utaustinx-ut-5-01x-linear-algebra-1162 One interesting thing in the FAQ was computer requirements: What software do I need for the course? We will utilize VirtualBox, Vagrant, and Git, which are available for free. We have configured a virtual machine for download to ensure that all participants have the same software and environment. With it, you will create a small linear algebra package using Python 3 and iPython Notebooks. Detailed, easy instructions will explain how to download, install, and use the software. If you are registered for the course, you will receive an email alerting you when these instructions become available. You will be able to access them at least a week before the course begins. (Don't be intimidated by the jargon. We'll get you through it.) That, on the one hand, is extraordinarily sophisticated, on the other hand a comment on just how hard it is to configure a desktop environment for class material. Imagine telling someone that you'll have to have a computer within a computer configured correctly to run the Python packages you'll be using! I was more impressed by Stanford's Machine Learning class that just said: Install either MatLab or Octave. All our code will work with that. -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] UTAustinX: UT.5.01x: Linear Algebra - Foundations to Frontiers | edX
I am subscribed to a MOO programmers list, and someone offered a Vagrant file for MOO tools; so besides eliminating dependency problems it can be used to giftwrap goodies. However, virtualisation still takes a little setting up and although performance has improved considerably in recent times older machines (to address the same ethic as 'offline first', namely do not design primarily for the most well-prepared users) might balk. A liveboot image seems a nice alternative. -Arlo FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Why I was wrong about the nuclear option
Hi Nick (who started the thread, regarding induction, but teasing with current events), and Arlo who has kept it alive, For days I have been trying not to respond, but … This is about the nuclear option, not about induction. Malcolm Gladwell had a piece in the New Yorker about David and Goliath a few years ago: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell A team of under-skilled basketball players makes it to the semifinals by pushing the full court press on every play, every game. One story gets most of the time here, and it is Gladwell's message. Pure determination and the self-discipline to be more fit and stronger than your opponents can overcome large differentials in gifts. Maybe gifts aren't so much earned as bestowed by luck of the draw, whereas conditioning is earned with suffering, and so is more noble, etc. Okay. Let me acknowledge that there is a lot in this half of the story that I admire and agree with, and Gladwell tells good stories. There is another part of the story that does get mentioned, but not in more than a sentence or two. Many of the girls in the other teams, who were hoping to win by skill, were not only frustrated but somewhat embittered at being beaten through sheer unrelenting obstruction. Gladwell does not demean this, but he doesn't give it a lot of space either, as it is different from the story he is here to tell. A different take on the same story, however, might be that the purpose of sport isn't (or shouldn't be) principally to provide a chance to declare winners; it should be to use competition to bring out a certain form of excellence, or skill, or beauty, or momentarily attaining a state of grace, or whatever you want to call it. David Rudisha's 800 or McKayla Maroney's Amanar. Not everybody who feels entitled to win and gets beaten by a more determined opponent is mourning the loss of these things, but some do, and if enough didn't, what would be left of anything, except a kind of uniform grey siege? I can't stand the republican obstructionism, because if there is any good faith behind any of it, in any rare individual, it is so far buried beneath the pure meanness that all I can see left is doing a dance around the bonfire as Rome burns. We have much to lose, and I can't see any difference of moral worth between people who are gleeful at its loss, and the most degraded Taliban mentality, in which nothing is left but the saboteur. But it's just the full court press, on every play, in every game. So why doesn't -- why shouldn't (unless you believe it should) -- everything degenerate to a simple siege? What had ever maintained anything of enough worth that there could be a nuclear option to threaten to take it away? I think I mean this as a science question. I guess, said another way, by the time you are down to being limited by the rules, most hope is lost. The role of rules must be, it seems, to function as catalysts within a system that is much more complicated than the rules themselves, and what they catalyze is the preservation of honor (or other value) by the system. The preservation of things that can only be preserved by more complicated systems than rules. But without well-designed rules as catalysts, the larger system could not be counted on to maintain these things on its own. What is the larger system? What is its natural language? How do we worry about it in the right way (meaning, a productive way) when we should worry? There is a kind of meanness or cynicism that likes to see hope dashed and beauty destroyed, and this meanness answers me by saying that if it isn't in the rules enforced with a gun, it isn't real, and only patsies fail to know that. I think that is an error, but it would be nice to have satisfying ways to get at the thought, at some level closer to the precision we can bring to bear when thinking about rules. For a group of girls to win a season of basketball through a lot of guts and planning is okay, and basketball will survive. To lose a norm of honor in the senate (already as wondrous as a snowball in hell) is not okay. Eric On Dec 6, 2013, at 2:50 PM, Arlo Barnes wrote: You are bit by bit dragging me out on thin ice here (statistics and probability) which is fine, so long as you are prepared to rescue me. I think, as a matter of practice, that the strength of an inference is determined a priori when you define your population and select your sample size. Does that sound right? The ice is as thin for me as for you but I would think that the probable maximum strength of an inference is determined by the nature of the sample (that can be measured within just the sample). So we can only make very weak inferences concerning life on other planets, because we have a sample size of one. But if the first exoplanet we find with life on it has only hominids, then an inference that 'dominant'
Re: [FRIAM] Why I was wrong about the nuclear option
Eric writes: There is a kind of meanness or cynicism that likes to see hope dashed and beauty destroyed, and this meanness answers me by saying that if it isn't in the rules enforced with a gun, it isn't real, and only patsies fail to know that. What a fantastic post. I would answer this way, but it isn't because I want to see hope dashed and beauty destroyed. It's because I want to destroy the destroyers. Marcus mail2web.com What can On Demand Business Solutions do for you? http://link.mail2web.com/Business/SharePoint FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Why I was wrong about the nuclear option
I would answer this way, but it isn't because I want to see hope dashed and beauty destroyed. It's because I want to destroy the destroyers. Marcus Yes. I understand. FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Corporate responsibility wrt health insurance
You might find the IRS Topic 762 - Independent Contractor vs. Employee useful at: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc762.html It says it was updated in October this year so hopefully any ACA impacts have been applied. Some links to pdf docs provide expanded info. However this tends to approach the issue from the other end: if you provide certain benefits like medical insurance you are (probably) an employer not whether the law says you have to provide such benefits. Thanks Robert C On 12/6/13 10:39 AM, glen e. p. ropella wrote: However, sometimes the people you think are independent contractors actually aren't (determined by audit or by filing a request with the IRS and/or your state). As I understand it, if these people are determined to be employees, then you are an employer and the rules about providing health insurance plans for part- and/or full-time employees apply to you, whether or not you've incorporated. On 12/06/2013 06:34 AM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: IMHO. You would presumably be doing business as a sole proprietor and not as a corporation and would hire them as independent contractors, then I think the answer is no, because their contract will bestow no employment benefits. But I am not an attorney, so I'd consult my local friendly employment lawyer. Robert C On 12/5/13 11:26 PM, Russ Abbott wrote: This (finally) leads to the question I want to ask. Let's assume that I as an individual hire 500 people to work for me. I do not incorporate; I just hire them individual to individual. Does anyone know if the law requires me to provide health insurance for them? FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Corporate responsibility wrt health insurance
Yeah, the feds are the lesser worry, though (in my opinion). It's the states you have to watch out for, especially during budget shortfalls and periods of high unemployment. On 12/06/2013 02:52 PM, Robert J. Cordingley wrote: You might find the IRS Topic 762 - Independent Contractor vs. Employee useful at: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc762.html It says it was updated in October this year so hopefully any ACA impacts have been applied. Some links to pdf docs provide expanded info. However this tends to approach the issue from the other end: if you provide certain benefits like medical insurance you are (probably) an employer not whether the law says you have to provide such benefits. -- glen ep ropella -- 971-255-2847 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Why I was wrong about the nuclear option
Thanks Joyce! I did receive the message you forwarded to me. I think I’m set. Jim On Dec 6, 2013, at 1:50 PM, Eric Smith desm...@santafe.edu wrote: Hi Nick (who started the thread, regarding induction, but teasing with current events), and Arlo who has kept it alive, For days I have been trying not to respond, but … This is about the nuclear option, not about induction. Malcolm Gladwell had a piece in the New Yorker about David and Goliath a few years ago: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell A team of under-skilled basketball players makes it to the semifinals by pushing the full court press on every play, every game. One story gets most of the time here, and it is Gladwell's message. Pure determination and the self-discipline to be more fit and stronger than your opponents can overcome large differentials in gifts. Maybe gifts aren't so much earned as bestowed by luck of the draw, whereas conditioning is earned with suffering, and so is more noble, etc. Okay. Let me acknowledge that there is a lot in this half of the story that I admire and agree with, and Gladwell tells good stories. There is another part of the story that does get mentioned, but not in more than a sentence or two. Many of the girls in the other teams, who were hoping to win by skill, were not only frustrated but somewhat embittered at being beaten through sheer unrelenting obstruction. Gladwell does not demean this, but he doesn't give it a lot of space either, as it is different from the story he is here to tell. A different take on the same story, however, might be that the purpose of sport isn't (or shouldn't be) principally to provide a chance to declare winners; it should be to use competition to bring out a certain form of excellence, or skill, or beauty, or momentarily attaining a state of grace, or whatever you want to call it. David Rudisha's 800 or McKayla Maroney's Amanar. Not everybody who feels entitled to win and gets beaten by a more determined opponent is mourning the loss of these things, but some do, and if enough didn't, what would be left of anything, except a kind of uniform grey siege? I can't stand the republican obstructionism, because if there is any good faith behind any of it, in any rare individual, it is so far buried beneath the pure meanness that all I can see left is doing a dance around the bonfire as Rome burns. We have much to lose, and I can't see any difference of moral worth between people who are gleeful at its loss, and the most degraded Taliban mentality, in which nothing is left but the saboteur. But it's just the full court press, on every play, in every game. So why doesn't -- why shouldn't (unless you believe it should) -- everything degenerate to a simple siege? What had ever maintained anything of enough worth that there could be a nuclear option to threaten to take it away? I think I mean this as a science question. I guess, said another way, by the time you are down to being limited by the rules, most hope is lost. The role of rules must be, it seems, to function as catalysts within a system that is much more complicated than the rules themselves, and what they catalyze is the preservation of honor (or other value) by the system. The preservation of things that can only be preserved by more complicated systems than rules. But without well-designed rules as catalysts, the larger system could not be counted on to maintain these things on its own. What is the larger system? What is its natural language? How do we worry about it in the right way (meaning, a productive way) when we should worry? There is a kind of meanness or cynicism that likes to see hope dashed and beauty destroyed, and this meanness answers me by saying that if it isn't in the rules enforced with a gun, it isn't real, and only patsies fail to know that. I think that is an error, but it would be nice to have satisfying ways to get at the thought, at some level closer to the precision we can bring to bear when thinking about rules. For a group of girls to win a season of basketball through a lot of guts and planning is okay, and basketball will survive. To lose a norm of honor in the senate (already as wondrous as a snowball in hell) is not okay. Eric On Dec 6, 2013, at 2:50 PM, Arlo Barnes wrote: You are bit by bit dragging me out on thin ice here (statistics and probability) which is fine, so long as you are prepared to rescue me. I think, as a matter of practice, that the strength of an inference is determined a priori when you define your population and select your sample size. Does that sound right? The ice is as thin for me as for you but I would think that the probable maximum strength of an inference is determined by the nature of the sample (that can be measured within just
