ASM is high level. Real programmers use punch cards

Where have I heard this one before?

The effectiveness of bans has always hinged on two factors:

• The likelihood of being caught
• The severity of punishment if caught

For example, everyone knows that the odds of being caught speeding are pretty low, but if the punishment for speeding is ten years imprisonment, then very few people will risk speeding.

Similarly, even if the odds of getting caught violating this law is only 1%, if the punishment is banning the platform and shutting down the company along with a fine equal to a year’s worth of revenue, then companies will probably not want to risk it.

I think it’s also the case that it has a bigger impact on developing brains, who might be more easily addicted.

I don’t have any evidence for this, I’m just guessing here.

If you really wanted to, couldn’t you just compile it yourself?

Or maybe ten months in Landsberg Prison

Glad to see that charging people who betray their country with high treason is back in style.

Unions help workers in all positions, but their effect is more noticeable when the worker has comparatively little bargaining power. When workers already have a large amount of bargaining power, such as in most white-collar jobs, unions don’t provide as many benefits than if workers have very little bargaining power and are easily replaced, such as in most jobs involving physical labour rather than mental labour.

You’re probably right. At the same time, stability and the right environment for business can do wonders for a country’s economy. Just compare the dirt-poor China that Deng Xiaoping opened to global investment and the now-dominant regional superpower of today.

Every other year is an election year or right before an election year. The IRS is not a political body. Its commissioner is a civil servant.

However, birth rates are more correlated to wealth, not to religion. Poorer people have more kids than wealthier people. Palestine is much poorer than Israel, partly because of the constant war and unrest there, as well as the lack of a strong state apparatus. This means nobody wants to invest money to start businesses and create good jobs Meanwhile, Israeli companies and people exploit this by hiring Palestinian workers at very low wages.

Palestine is also beholden to the monetary policy of Israel as they are forbidden by treaty from establishing a national currency. Thus, the currency of Palestine is largely the Israeli new shekel.

Once there is peace, there can be work to fix these problems and increase the living standards of Palestinians. Once that happens, history tells us that their birth rate will naturally decline.

In my opinion, all of because I don’t care.

I do think the long system makes more sense. That being said, I will not be using it.

—James Grime, mathematician, Numberphile

Wow. Shocking.

Not going to lie, I thought it was fake news.

Hang on a minute—the population of Israel is some ten million but the population of Palestine is only some five and a half million. Israel is 74% Jewish and 18% Muslim. Palestine is 93% Muslim. The rest follow other religions or no religion (they are mostly Christians).

This seems to mean that there are 7 million Muslims and 7.5 million Jews. And these figures predate the Gaza war; no doubt the number of Muslims in Palestine has gone down, due to obvious reasons.

I am talking about quickly reducing the heat of a pan which, for example, has a sauce in it that is close to burning without having to move it to another burner.

Well, we’ll see. The thing is that if the Palestinian Authority wants to be recognised as a state, it needs to act like a state and not like an ephemeral government-in-exile. Democratic governments can change through elections, but the state as an organisation is still there. The PA uses the name “State of Palestine” in its formal communications, so it needs to live up to that instead of acting like a ragtag band of desperados begging for whatever scraps of power Israel tosses to them.

Does the current government of the Palestinian Authority have the confidence of the people? Maybe. We don’t know. But I assume the answer is “no” until I am proven wrong. Fatah controls the PA but technically lost to Hamas in the 2006 election. Again, that was 18 years ago. A lot has changed since then! Hamas has turned Gaza into a shit hole. The pockets of the West Bank run by the PA at least are serviceable.

I’ve never heard of that. Do you have any further reading?

$30.80 a year is still $30.80, and that is literally money that requires no extra work or payment on the part of the honest taxpayer.

“Playing board games is pointless because people can just cheat”