Archive for 2012

The Irrationality of Rationing

Thursday, November 15th, 2012
The Irrationality of Rationing

More than two weeks after the largest Atlantic hurricane on record hit the Eastern Seaboard, the bridges and tunnels have opened, the subways are running, and a degree of normalcy has succeeded the initial panic and confusion. But the gas lines persist. In an effort to shorten these sometimes absurdly long lines, New Jersey Governor... »

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Email Snooze and Gmail Zero

Friday, October 19th, 2012
Email Snooze and Gmail Zero

Two years ago, when I still had a day job and Beeminder was just a side project, I wrote about my epic struggle with email: My email is dysfunctional. I keep things in my inbox because I can’t afford for them to go out... »

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Olympic Records

Sunday, September 16th, 2012
Olympic Records

This is a guest post by Jake Hofman, part of the original MESS in Messy Matters and now a researcher at Microsoft Research - New York City. We’re not sure where Jake’s own PRs would appear on the charts below but he crushed both Sharad and Dan this summer in the... »

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The New Digital Divide

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012
The New Digital Divide

In the 15 years since Hoffman and Novak highlighted the digital divide between those with and without internet access, use of the web has risen dramatically in the United States, increasing from roughly 30% to 80% of adults regularly going online. Even with this tremendous growth in access, however, substantial inequalities persist across... »

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Stochastic, Nerdtastic Restaurant Bill Splitting

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
Stochastic, Nerdtastic Restaurant Bill Splitting

We have worked out what we believe is the fastest fair way to split a restaurant bill! You know what the state of the art is like so this is quite a breakthrough. To be clear about the “fastest fair way” it helps to compare to the extremes. First, the slowest fair way to split a... »

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