Links and Minifeatures 07 08 Saturday

Coke re-evaluates trade secret protection. Specifically, how to protect them.

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Test of New Method of Spacewalking Successful



Not to mention their description of the view:

"It's beautiful," Fossum said. "The thin glow of the moonlit Earth below."



And when Mission Control pointed out to Sellers that he could view Britain over his left shoulder, the British-born spacewalker said: "Wow! Oh, my goodness. It's a beautiful day in Ireland."



Looking down at the Caspian Sea several minutes later, Fossum said: "This is a good view ... I'm in a dream; nobody wake me up."

Just because our parents screwed up the possibility for us doesn't mean we have to mess it up for our kids. Any of the next couple of generations could likely make the big step off earth possible for their kids, also, but somebody has to actually do it before earth runs out of the necessary resources.



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Interesting: Coral can change its skeleton composition.



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If they can marry, this requirement is completely fair on the part of employers. Gays at Globe told to marry or lose benefits. Since homosexuals are allowed to marry in Massachusetts, relaxing the requirements for marriage that heterosexuals have makes no sense, and could be grounds for a lawsuit on the part of those heterosexuals. "If John doesn't have to marry his boyfriend to get him benefits, why does Jim have to marry his girlfriend?"



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Hurray! Volokh Conspiracy notes that the UN Conference on Small Arms is ending with no document, and no plans for a follow up conference. Hurray for John Bolton, and others!









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I've written a spreadsheet that compares two loans in a time dependent manner to help one answer the question of which loan really is better for you. It turns out I'm a little surprised by how quickly paying a point or two tends to become worthwhile. I've tried a couple dozen examples thus far, and it's working out to generally about two years or a little less when you add everything up, even when you consider the later effects of a higher balance.



I'm toying with the idea of making an email of this sheet and my "own versus rent" financial computations spreadsheet a "premium" when someone donates $X to the site. Feedback?