Archive for May, 2013

Todas as línguas! Beeminder ama Duolingo

Friday, May 24th, 2013
Todas as línguas! Beeminder ama Duolingo

If you asked 100 people to fill in the following blank, Family-Feud-style, what would be the most popular answer? “I’ve always wanted to learn ______” In an informal poll of authors of this blog post, the runaway winner was “a new language.” It’s pretty easy to get through “ciao” and “auf wiedersehen,” but neither of those are going... »

To Break From Routine Is Human

Thursday, May 16th, 2013
To Break From Routine Is Human

This is crossposted on AndyBrett.com. The third James Bond movie, Goldfinger, opens with an amphibious mission to destroy an illicit chemical processing facility. After emerging from the water and planting the explosives, Bond strips off his drysuit to reveal a perfectly pressed white tuxedo and calmly affixes a red carnation... »

Exquisitely Fair Pre-Pay Discounts

Monday, May 13th, 2013
Exquisitely Fair Pre-Pay Discounts

You know how a lot of services offer things like one month free if you pay yearly? We were nerding out over the math of that and thought, why not generalize to compute the perfectly fair discount for paying at any frequency you like, including every infinity years, i.e., paying once for a lifetime subscription? Just pick... »

Auto-Canceling Subscriptions

Friday, May 3rd, 2013
Auto-Canceling Subscriptions

“Well I’ve already paid for Netflix this month, so I might as well watch another episode of ‘Say Yes To The Dress’. I’ll get around to canceling later. You know, when I’m less busy.” — A slightly caricatured version of me. When you sign up for some subscription services they make... »