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    Health Care Thread

    Marketing costs are pretty low.McKinsey estimates$6bn. So that's 0.2% of health care expenses. Administrative/overhead is difficult to estimate and compare, because it can accrue on so many levels. e.g. Medicare claims can be costly for doctors to process, but that doesn't factor into Medicare's...
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    Health Care Thread

    Wikipedia has a nice summary of studies estimating the cost of malpractice payouts and defensive medicine to the health care system:Medical malpractice in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia If you look at recent studies, it's anywhere between 0% (for defensive medicine) and...
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    Charts in HTML/CSS?

    I created some bar charts that work nicely with Javascript, but the software I need to implement this in is returning an error saying that document.write() has been disabled. The Google Visualization library I used to do it is, presumably, relying on that being available. Is there a way to...
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    Laptop Computers

    Definitely get an SSD. Go with 8GB of RAM instead... plenty for any non-gaming use.
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    Best Credit Card with Cash Back Rewards

    Yeah, but it's pretty unlikely that you'd ever spend $8,800 on that ticket... so using that to put a dollar value on points isn't all that useful. I'm sure it's a fun experience to do, though, and maybe worth the $625 you could otherwise use. (My 50k sign-up offer from American got me a return...
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    Smartphones

    Phablets are usually 6'' and larger. The One Plus 2 is 5.5 inches. Slightly larger than the Nexus 5, but should still be able to hold it comfortably.
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    Windows 10

    Have you tried this?How to force Windows to start downloading the Windows 10 update files | VentureBeat | Business | by Jeff Grubb Emil Protalinski I did that just after Windows 10 launched and it worked perfectly. As for the "phoning home" issue... I assume nobody who complains about...
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    Smartphones

    That makes no sense to me... Microsoft has an unlocked version of the phone in the store:Buy Microsoft Lumia 950 XL - Unlocked - Microsoft Store Why wouldn't this work on TMobile?
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    Smartphones

    For anyone interested in the OnePlus 2, you can buy it without an invite on 10/12 from 12pm to 1pm:Never Settle - OnePlus.net Yeah, a shitty and absurd system, but it looks like a good phone. Alas, I wiped my Nexus 5 and flashed Marshmallow and the performance issues I had disappeared...
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    Tablets

    USD 1,500 is equivalent to CAD 1,956. So at least they're not screwing you on the exchange rate. (Also, woah: the exchange rate was 1:1 not that long ago, wasn't it?) I wonder whether the Macbook Pro was priced with the more favorable exchange rate and they couldn't adjust upward the price...
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    Website/Email hosts?

    I use BlueHost, which is pretty good and has some substantially discounted intro pricing for up to 3 years. Alas, my 3 years are coming up and I'm less thrilled about paying the full $110/year or so. If you want to do everything yourself, going with Amazon might be a good idea. You can get a...
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    Smartphones

    If people have invites for a OnePlus 2, I'd be interested as well. I signed up for their mailing list and haven't heard anything since. Although I'm still somewhat hesitant to buy from a company that deliberately creates shortages to get a buzz. At least that's the only explanation I have for...
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    Tablets

    The entry-level Surface book (e.g. the $1,500 version) doesn't come with a dedicated GPU. So I'd think it ought to perform pretty much the same with and without the keyboard. The CPU in the entry-level Book is the same as the mid-level Pro (which is also the one you get with 8GB RAM), making...
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    Tablets

    Just preordered the Surface Book. 4GB RAM isn't sufficient for my mobile use anymore, so the price difference between the 8GB Surface Pro 4 and the entry-level Surface Book is only $200 -- and that buys me a better keyboard, not having to deal with a kickstand, and 3 hours of additional battery...
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    Most Hated Man in America

    You could say the same for food or housing: both are pretty important. Enough so for the state to intervene, with the cost particularly salient in housing (*cough* San Francisco, New York) -- i.e. shortages. There are legitimate reasons for short selling. 1) They're integral to hedging risks...
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    Most Hated Man in America

    I like your car. You should sell it to me for $5. If you don't, I'll sue you. See how that goes wrong? Health care is a market like any other. Much like Apple gets to set the price for the latest iPhone, so do pharmaceutical companies with their drugs. If Apple charged $5,000 for an iPhone...
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    Most Hated Man in America

    They still have to go through regulatory approval, which is costly and takes a lot of time. What really needs to happen is a reciprocal agreement between the EU and the US, where drugs tested in one market get approved in the other. The requirements for clinical trials follow pretty much the...
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    Smartphones

    Quick question about the new Nexus 5X: are there any rumors on whether it will support the seamless transition between wifi and cell data that the Nexus 6 supports? That's my biggest gripe with my current Nexus 5. I do a lot of calling via Skype and either forget to turn off wifi before going...
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    Smartphones

    Switch to the $30/month T-Mobile plan, unless T-mobile is horrendous where you are (in which case, Google Fi!). Now that Hangouts does VOIP calling and text messages, and is natively integrated into your Nexus phone, there's just no reason to use regular minutes anymore. With everything on data...
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    Smartphones

    Looking forward to Google's event next Tuesday and the announcement of the Nexus 5X. My N5 is getting somewhat dated and I'd like to replace it with something of a similar size (aka not a ginormous phablet). Hoping it'll ship out soon after that event and not many weeks from now.
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    Laptop Computers

    I'm strongly considering picking up a Surface Pro 4. Played around with the Pro 3 and thought it was pretty appealing... will be nice to see what kind of improvements they have coming (new processor should help with performance and battery). Also has a pretty cool docking station that would make...
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    Service Providers (Internet, TV, Etc)

    I'm considering switching from Comcast to Verizon. My Comcast bill just went up to $65/month and Verizon FIOS dropped its price down to $45/month with a two year contract -- for the same download speed and symmetric upload speed (I don't even know what my UL speed is with Comcast, but it sucks)...
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    Company Raises It's Minimum Wage to $70,000 and All Hell Breaks Loose

    Not sure you can conclude that. It's part of Harvard University, but I don't think everyone there really weighs prestige that much. Yeah, this thread made me curious as well... not least because it's been two decades and the paper doesn't tell us much about the effect of age, gender, and income...
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    Company Raises It's Minimum Wage to $70,000 and All Hell Breaks Loose

    The study was published in 1998, so must have been carried out about 20 years ago:http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/ic...being/HSPH.pdf(pretty short read and interesting!) I misremembered in that it was not just students who participated, but also faculty and staff -- all at the Harvard School...
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    Company Raises It's Minimum Wage to $70,000 and All Hell Breaks Loose

    There was a purely hypothetical study in which students were asked whether they'd rather work for Company A that paid them $50,000/year or for Company B paying $100,000/year. Super easy choice, you'd think. However, there was a twist: at Company A, most employees earned $25k. At Company B, most...
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    Amazon Prime Day - July 15th

    I'm on the waitlist for the Echo, but it seems to kick me off the waitlist periodically. I get a confirmation on the screen (but no popup) that I'm on the waitlist for the deal... then, a couple minutes later, I either get the option to join the waitlist or am told that the waitlist is full. Any...
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    Best Credit Card with Cash Back Rewards

    You shouldn't get docked for paying off a car. It stays on your credit record for 10 years. Even having different types of credit (e.g. revolving, fixed installment) is such a minor part of the score that it's not worth worrying over.
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    China suffers worst wheat harvest in 55 years

    The US savings rate is currently 5-6%, but that doesn't include forced savings through social security and what is arguably fairly similar, e.g. Medicare. However, that also masks massive differences by income. For example, the bottom 2 quintiles save nothing, while the third quintile saves...
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    Desktop Computers

    Boxee doesn't support more than 2TB. Yes, it's weak... and yes, the drive is almost full. But then I also delete movies and most TV episodes after I've watched them once. Not a big fan of re-watching movies.
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    Desktop Computers

    Just ordered the 2TB version of that one. I have another 2TB drive hooked up to my Boxee for media storage, so that's probably already overkill. My current storage drive shows up as 566GB; although that's definitely on the low end and I'll want some more this time around.
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    Desktop Computers

    My storage HDD seems to be on its way out. It had a good run (over 6 years), but as of today, it seems to get disconnected and only shows up for a few minutes after rebooting. I've fortunately backed up the important stuff from the drive, but I still have to get a replacement. Any suggestions...
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    Smartphones

    GV doesn't use data by default for incoming calls. There's an option in Hangouts that you have to enable for that. Outgoing calls also go via your phone plan when you place them using the phone's dialer and via data if you use the hangouts dialer.
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    Smartphones

    Looks like they're worth what you paid for. Kidding aside, have you tried the Adobe Reader app?Adobe Reader
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    Smartphones

    What's the draw of Project Fi? Looks to be substantially more expensive than T-Mobile's $30/month plan. Unless you use less than 1GB of data, I suppose.
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    Routers & Other Networking Stuff

    I just ordered aTP-Link Archer C7router that came highly recommended. There are a ton of networks on 2.4GHz, but only one on 5GHz... so I'm hoping switching to 5GHz will boost performance. It's gotten pretty abysmal as of late. The router is also AC ready, which is nice for future-proofing...
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    Rent Vs. Buy housing

    Stock market also did massively better than housing. So I guess it wasn't the time to buy after all... Then again, do people ever say "now isn't the time?" Seems like there's always this fear of housing prices just shooting to the sky and you have to get innow, now, now!!!
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    401k Choice Help for a dumb dumb

    Those are some expensive shit funds. Alas, there's little you can do about that. You should look into whether your employer matches up to some amount, or whether it's a direct contribution (irrespective of how much you put in). If it's the latter, put in absolutely nothing yourself and just...
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    Best Credit Card with Cash Back Rewards

    Any recommendations for travel cards not restricted to a particular airline? I probably spend around $5k/year on flights and hotels and I wonder whether I can do better than the 2% cash back on my Citi Double Cash card. I fly American pretty frequently, with United a close second. Not...
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    Smartwatches / Fitness Trackers

    Android Wear pushed an upgrade that lets an android smartwatch connect to your phone via wifi. The devices don't have to be on the same network and the phone can also be connected using a data plan. I don't know how often I'm out of my phone's bluetooth range, but enabling the feature hasn't...
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    College Choice for Veteran

    This holds in some fields, but largely not in economics and especially not in the top programs. Internships count for nothing, the GRE is largely a cut-off threshold (in the old regime, anything under 790 would be suspect), and it's expected that you have As in the relevant math courses...