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masterponomo's comments

masterponomo | 9 years ago | on: Investing for Geeks

It depends on how you will access it before retirement. If you withdraw early, you incur a 10% penalty and you pay income tax. If you borrow it from yourself, you don't have the penalty but it may impact your ability to continue to invest (see rules for your plan). That said, there is a great benefit even w/o company matching: you don't pay income tax on your contributions until you withdraw them. This lowers your taxable income, which may put you into a lower tax bracket.

masterponomo | 9 years ago | on: Crockford

Given the context, chicharrones was clearly a mistake or a play on the word cojones. The earnest parsers of speech for fatal psychological landmines would not in a million years be able to make this tiny mental leap, as it requires a sense of humor.

masterponomo | 9 years ago | on: CMU 15-721 (Spring 2016) Database Systems

Understood. I meant to make a distinction between commonly accepted terminology, and free-form text where the author chooses to make controversial statements. And yes I'm aware of the existing controversy over use of master-slave in technology documentation.

masterponomo | 9 years ago | on: HARC

I hope they have an airtight written partnership agreement on this thang.

masterponomo | 10 years ago | on: Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency

My own practice in recent years has been to analyze trends and convert them into investments. So for instance, I have substantial positions in McDonalds, Altria, Philip-Morris, Exxon Mobile, Facebook, and Service Corp (none of which do I patronize). People be gorging, smoking, posting online, and dying. To invest in rampant financial ignorance, I looked into pawn shops and payday loans, but those are all privately held (e.g. super-lucrative, don't need outside capital). I'm looking into banks, Visa and MasterCard, and other facilitators of credit and payments, as possible growth areas.

masterponomo | 10 years ago | on: Jury Duty

When I sat on a jury in 1989, the main goal of most of the jury was to get the decision over with in time to pick up their kids from school. We quickly found for the plaintiff against the main defendant. There were a slew of co-defendants, who aside from the reading of the charges had not been mentioned at all during the trial. No evidence, no description of their supposed involvement, nada. The foreman started to copy our verdict onto the forms for them as well. I objected, pointing out that we had only discussed the one defendant and needed to consider the others separately. Much protesting and eye-rolling ensued, but the urge to leave won out and the jury agreed to find all of the co-defendants not guilty. I was pleased with the outcome but appalled by the process. I would hate to be judged so carelessly by my peers. Yes, having 12 jurors does increase the odds of having someone put on the brakes and insist on proper procedure, but it is by no means guaranteed.

masterponomo | 10 years ago | on: A letter to our daughter

Just wow. I asked my parents how my birth changed their lives. They said they had to invest in some good ear plugs (for themselves) as a sleep aid, and that they lost a sock drawer until I graduated to the futon. While I did not spark the solving of the world's problems, at least I did have some small impact.

masterponomo | 10 years ago | on: What can a technologist do about climate change?

First determine the ideal temperature and climate conditions. Then, if the ideal is cooler than the current temp, wear the same clothes twice as long between washings; if the ideal is warmer than the current temp, wear them half as many times. But I cannot overstate the importance of Step 1 before taking a potentially irreversible action. Coup de Grace: Apply the same calculus to your every energy-consuming/heat-generating activity, and lather/rinse/repeat (metaphorically).

masterponomo | 10 years ago | on: Playboy to Drop Nudity as Internet Fills Demand

For boys growing up in the 60's and 70's, a lot of time and effort was spent trying to get hold of a Playboy or even just a few pages. Imagine a whole neighborhood of boys playing "ditch 'em" (a wide-ranging and violent version of hide 'n' go seek) wherein the "seekers" would while away the countdown time by gathering at one player's house to peruse his dad's magazine collection--and manage to put it back EXACTLY as it was found lest the treasure trove be locked away. Imagine a middle school music class where an ancient radiator vent in the back of the room was known as a reliable drop point for a stash of pictures, necessarily folded and ripped from being alternately jammed into and removed from the hiding place. Oh well, what we were looking for (and so much more) is blase now. Times do change.
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