The Million Dollar Programming Prize
IEEE Spectrum: The Million Dollar Programming Prize
...We have just submitted our latest entry in the year-old Netflix Prize competition, which offers a grand prize of US $1 million for an algorithm that’s 10 percent more accurate than the one Netflix uses to predict customers’ movie preferences. Although we have not reached that milestone, we are hoping at least to do better than anyone else has done so far; if we can make it to 8 p.m. with the best score, we’ll win a $50 000 Progress Prize...
Bank Bailout Plan
Derek has some more to say about the epic win in the House yesterday defeating the bill.
Sneaky Ice Cream Companies
I've noticed the price of Ice Cream steadily rising ($6 for what used to cost $4) and I know that food costs in general are up... we're consistently $75 or more over our food budget each month recently.
Well, it now looks like 1.5 quarts is the new "1/2 gallon."
Based on the information provided in the Consumerist post, that represents a 16.7% price increase! How so? Check this out:
Previous Price Per Quart:
$5.99 ÷ 1.75 quarts = $3.42 per quart
New Price Per Quart:
$5.99 ÷ 1.50 quarts = $3.99 per quart
Percentage Price Increase:
($3.99 - $3.43) ÷ $3.42 = 16.7%
To put that in perspective, these same ice cream companies would now have to charge $8 for a 1/2 gallon of ice cream if the size stayed the same and they just raised prices. Right now Blue Bell sells for around $6.30 for a 1/2 gallon.
Size reductions are very sneaky because most people don't do the math.
[via allfinancialmatters.com]
I love ice cream but don't eat it much because Dana is severely lactose intolerant. Maybe that is a blessing that I don't have to absorb these price hikes from the ice cream manufacturers.
More on the amazing "grocery shrink-ray" here.
Shop by unit price, not size or total price. It's a much better way to save money at the store.
Finally…
...got my state income tax rebate today. 2 months to the day from when I filed.
Now it's just a waiting game with the Feds.
The Panama Canal Costs HOW MUCH to Cross?
I was watching a show on Science HD about the Panama Canal on Saturday. They discussed the construction and operation of the canal and presented the challenges it faces in the future with bigger cargo ships being built.
A thought popped into my head: "How much does it cost a ship to cross from one ocean to another using the Panama Canal?"
Ah, I love the internet: Instant answers to all my questions!
A search on "panama canal fees" led us straight to the Panama branch of the Barwil worldwide shipping agency network. A couple of clicks into the site, we located a Panama Canal toll calculator.
Enter the vessel's length, beam, and something called the "PC/UMS Net" and it does the rest. The calculator even itemizes an additional 2,000 dollars of miscellaneous charges including taxes, telexes, and fumigation fees.
Since we're not very sea-savvy, we found ourselves wondering what PC/UMS Net was -- we had a hunch it was a measurement of weight, but it sounded more complicated than roadside truck scales.
We returned to our search results and clicked on "web page matches," which took us to the Zonian Web Site. It offers a nostalgic look at the history of the now-defunct Panama Canal Zone. We clicked on "How the Panama Canal works" and viewed a Java animation demonstrating how a ship navigates the canal, from the Pacific to the Atlantic through a complex series of locks.
From the site, we also gleaned these relevant facts: The highest Canal toll was $141,344.91, charged to a cruise ship called the Crown Princess, and the lowest toll ever paid was 36 cents by Richard Halliburton, who swam the Canal in 1928.
We still wanted to find more about PC/UMS Net, so we consulted the official bilingual site of the Panama Canal Authority. On the toll assessment page, we learned that the rules of the game had changed back in 1994, in order to comply with a new, worldwide standard for measuring the weight of vessels. This system is referred to as the Panama Canal Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS).
Using this system, the weight of a vessel is calculated by applying a mathematical formula to its total volume. Non-cargo ships are assessed based on the vessel's water displacement.
Final notes: It's nearly 8,000 miles shorter to traverse the Canal than to go around South America... that's a huge savings in fuel and time. And swimming the Canal is not recommended these days.
There you have it. Thanks, Yahoo! (do I put another exclamation mark after "Yahoo!" since it's a proper name as to finish the sentence?)
On another note, If you wish to take your personal yacht (what? You don't have your own yacht?) through the canal, the fees seem to be a bit different according to MichaelBriant.com:
Please note: these numbers are not from an official source.
| overall length feet | fixed transit fee | buffer | total deposit fee |
| up to 50 feet | $500 | $800 | $1300 |
| 50 < length <80 | $750 | $650 | $1400 |
| 80 < length <100 | $1000 | $700 | $1700 |
| length < 100 | $1500 | $900 | $2400 |
Dave Ramsey’s Rant About The Price of Gas and Government’s Role In Our Lives – UPDATED
UPDATE: I've transcribed the audio.
I listen to the Dave Ramsey Show on a regular basis on my commute to and from work.
Today I heard a portion that especially stuck out in my mind and I think Dave is completely correct in what he said.
Please note: I'm posting only a portion of the free podcast version of the show 
. The full version is freely available on iTunes or Dave Ramsey's homepage (or this direct link).
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Transcript:
Auto Loans – What a Hassle! (UPDATED)
UPDATE:
CarMax corporate customer service contacted me. Apparently, 7.69% is the lowest APR they offer any of their customers... even customers like me with a credit score in the high 700's to low 800's. They were very apologetic about any misunderstandings that may have occurred. I was ready to let it go in my mind before they called, but I'm glad we were able to open a dialogue and get to the root of why I was dissatisfied with the loan experience (the actual car BUYING experience was great!).
Bottom Line: Buy a car from CarMax, but don't (under any circumstances) go with their "perferred rate" financing. You're more than likely to get a better loan rate getting financing through your bank or local credit union.
I'm going to try to be as objective as I can on this topic. But, needless to say, I'm pretty ticked off.
From my last post, you know I unexpectedly had to purchase a new car. I had to finance a portion of the purchase (which I'm not too happy about since I'm trying to do the Dave Ramsey thing).
At the time of purchase CarMax pre-approved me for a loan from Bank of America for 7.69%. Woah... kind of high in my books. They told me I had three business days to procure my own financing so I shopped around.
Since my mortgage is with Bank of America, I decided to try them and got a great interest rate of 5.29%. I talked with on of the Bank of America loan officers and she faxed me a letter which she said would be sufficient to switch the contract on the car. The loan officer said that since CarMax was an authorized Bank of America dealer, they would be able to do this no problem whatsoever.
I went into the Carmax on the third business day and that's where things started to get confusing. All I got were excuses. Here's some of the things I heard from the business office:
"I've never seen a letter like this." - Bank of America said they use these documents all the time
"This is the 4th business day." - I purchased the car on Thursday. Friday (1), Monday (2), Tuesday (3). I fail to see how it was the 4th business day unless they were counting from when we were approved for the loan (which was Wednesday).
"Your loan is already with Bank of America. We can't change the contract unless it's with another bank" - Why did Bank of America say that I could?
"You'll need your wife here to sign the new contract" - Then why did she sign a power of attorney, allowing me to do business for her? She could not have made it to the business office by the time they closed that night.
"You need to call and deal with Bank of America directly. Since they're the current lien-holder, they can just switch the terms over to the better rate."
It's that last quote that I want to talk about. I think that they just wanted me out of there. So I did what they said and when home. The next day I called up the bank and told my loan officer what had transpired. She said that I had been "grossly misinformed" and that they could not simply change the terms of my current loan. It was going to require a refinance to do that which would incur a $200 fee.
Great. Now I was past the 3-day limit and totally screwed (in my opinion). Now I'm stuck with a 7.69% rate on my auto loan and it won't be worth it to refinance because of the fee.
I asked the loan agent how my rate was calculated and she said that it was solely based on my credit score and the loan amount. A conclusion I can come to is that CarMax purpose artificially increases the interest rate to take a cut (2.4% APR in my case). Another conclusion could be the fact that when our salesperson entered the loan into their computer, he neglected to take into account the $5,000 down payment I was providing. The computer then calculated the APR based on a $13,000 loan instead of an $8,000 loan like it should have been.
My loan officer was very helpful and said she'd reduce the interest rate to 5.04% to try and help offset the $200 fee. I worked out the numbers and if we pay it off as aggressively as we're planning, it would cost us more money to reduce the rate from 7.69% to 5.04%. So we're leaving it.
Oh well.
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Nike+ Running Stats
- Total runs: 169
- Total distance: 298.44mi
- Total time: 86hr 53min 47sec
- Total calories: 39,935
- Avg pace per mi: 17'28"
- Avg distance per run: 1.77mi
- Avg calories per run: 236.30
My Records
- Farthest Run: 6.43mi
- Fastest Mile: 8'40"
- Fastest 5K: 32'10"
- Fastest 10K:2hr 16min 12sec
My Recent Runs
- June 1, 2010, 11:39pm
- Distance: 2.20mi
- Duration: 41' 12"
- Calories: 279
- May 27, 2010, 9:59pm
- Distance: 1.16mi
- Duration: 19' 44"
- Calories: 146
- May 10, 2010, 10:56pm
- Distance: 0.67mi
- Duration: 10' 57"
- Calories: 85
My Nike+ Goals
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