:: The UberPlexer ::

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:: Sunday, February 29, 2004 ::

Um, I think they might be off

WhozOnTop - Top Ranked Sites | New Jersey | USA:

"B.A.'s Home Page - Hoboken - Personal Home Pages - 44.00"
Title - Location - Type - Hits/Day

So this place shows that I get 44 hits per day on the aljfkds.com homepage. I think that might be a little over-exaggerated. Now to find the uberplexer on this thing.

Later.
:: Matthew 4:06 PM [+]    ::
...

Minimal changes

B.A.'s Home Page

OK, two new graphics as I try to get Tony down to only one on the front page.

I'm thinking that all letters might be cool. Maybe (in left to right, then top to bottom format): P, PDQ, SWP, L, BB, DF, M, OL, AIM, SH, LJ, W. Worth a try, but it will lose the few graphics that I like (Star Wars Pants, Pinstripe Destiny Quiz, Links, DFilm and Movies). Maybe letters will be default instead of Tony.

Also, at current count there were 1947 unique visitors to the blog. So thanks to both of you for hitting it up about a thousand times each. Soon I'll hit 2 grand and leave both katie rocks and swankjob in the dust.

On that note, best of luck to katie rocks with her foot/neck injury. Get better soon.

Later.
:: Matthew 10:32 AM [+]    ::
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Revisiting the penguin game

pya!

1215. Adam's got nothing on me.

Later.
:: Matthew 8:45 PM [+]    ::
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Stupid archives

OK, here's something that's been bugging me.

Off of the main page, the archive link, shown as [+] works perfectly fine and references the folder called blogarch that I set up at aljfkds.com.

But when you are looking through the archives and click the [+] link, to reference a specific post on the page, it adds in an extra /blogarch/ to the address, thereby fucking it all up.

Should I just put the archives in the main folder? Or does anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks mucho.

Later.
:: Matthew 2:52 PM [+]    ::
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Comfy

Herman Miller - Mirra

Later.
:: Matthew 3:19 PM [+]    ::
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Paulie!

Family Left Behind in Cuba Is Concern to Yanks' Contreras:

"The Yankees, who still have not reissued PAUL O'NEILL's No. 21, have already handed out ROGER CLEMENS's No. 22 to catcher JOE GIRARDI, and ANDY PETTITTE's No. 46 to pitcher DONOVAN OSBORNE. The Yankees have 15 retired numbers. 'We don't have the luxury of holding too many numbers out,' General Manager BRIAN CASHMAN said"

Later.
:: Matthew 1:52 PM [+]    ::
...

Damn, damn, damn

The UberPlexer:

"By the way - it says they email you you're score..."

Don't you just hate when you find a typo.

Later.
:: Matthew 11:34 AM [+]    ::
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Sometimes you have to proofread

From the bottom of a fax transmittal sheet sent by a government office in Newark to us.



You can't make this stuff up.

Later.
:: Matthew 11:25 AM [+]    ::
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Mosaics

So I downloaded some shareware of Easy Mosaic 5.02.

Pretty damn cool.






Later.
:: Matthew 1:14 PM [+]    ::
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Ultimate Dodgeball Crack

The UberPlexer

Before remembering about this post, the yahoo search for "ultimate dodgeball crack" was a little worrisome.

Later.


:: Matthew 10:49 AM [+]    ::
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What To Rent

What To Rent

Pegged a lot of movies that I like.

Later.
:: Matthew 10:43 AM [+]    ::
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Anguilla, here I come

Anguilla Villas by myCaribbean - Seaclusion

So we're pretty much set on this villa for Anguilla.

Anybody know what an ensuite is? Babelfish translates it from french as "in continuation."

Later.
:: Matthew 4:56 PM [+]    ::
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Thomas Aquinas was wrong?

C U . C O M M U N I T Y:

"What about quantum mechanics? Currently believed to be the basis of all physics (and consequently all science), QM relies on indeterminacy. I could take a spin-1/2 particle and perform a measurement on it, thus yielding either an up or a down. Either result 'exists', or is an event, and so, according to this guy, must have some cause. What is the cause of an 'up'? The up doesn't cause itself, for the particle was in an indeterminate state before the measurement and so up didn't exist. But yet the measurement doesn't cause the up either, since the measurement was equally likely to return a down."

Want to read more on this.

Later.
:: Matthew 5:20 PM [+]    ::
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Father/Daughter Tailgate

C U . C O M M U N I T Y

Mr. Duffield and his daughter?

Later.
:: Matthew 5:12 PM [+]    ::
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Same article, different sentence

Baseball Prospectus - Prospectus Triple Play: Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres:

"Replacement Level?: Bill Mueller, 2003 American League batting champion, is no longer the starting third baseman for the NY-BOS United All-Stars."

I swear I wrote to the Dayn Somethingorother about updating the NY-BOS United All-Stars. Hopefully the rest of it comes out.

Later.
:: Matthew 4:59 PM [+]    ::
...

Damon vs. Affleck

Baseball Prospectus - Prospectus Triple Play: Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres:

"Only in Boston can you have a $120 million payroll stocked with bought-and-paid-for talent and still believe you're the little guy, fighting the good fight."

Later.
:: Matthew 4:57 PM [+]    ::
...

Is that a correct statement?

Sports Media and Business: Steinbrenner Has Got It and He Loves to Flaunt It:

"Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College and the author of two books on baseball finances, suggested yesterday that the Yankees may be bringing in at least $330 million."

I would suggest "the Yankees may be bringing in $330 million," or "the Yankees bring in at least $330 million," but not that they may be bringing in at least...

Doesn't make any damn sense. Hey NYTimes, hire me.

Later.
:: Matthew 4:47 PM [+]    ::
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Damn Addicting

Mardi Gras Soccer Shootout

Later.
:: Matthew 3:49 PM [+]    ::
...

VORP - Value Over Replacement Player

VORP - 2001

Posada: 45.8
Pudge: 44.2

VORP - 2002

Posada: 44.9
Pudge: 39.6

VORP - 2003

Posada: 56.5
Pudge: 46.3

Huh, I think I'd take Posada any day of the week and the last three years.

ARod trade: amazing, but not in that Mets' sort of way. Btwn Boone, Henson and Soriano leaving, the Yankees add less than a million (reg req'd) in money this year.

"The expected payouts to Henson, Soriano and Boone total roughly $14.2 million. The $942,623 in termination pay the Yankees would owe Boone, in addition to the $14 million they will pay Rodriguez this season, would raise the Yankees' payroll by less than $750,000."

I've also been racking my brain about this article, which asks the question: can the rosters of a combined NY-BOS team beat the best of the rest (The Nons)?

It's based on Value Over Replacement Player (VORP), where approximately 10 pts in VORP equals a win. Without delving into position changes, and assuming that NY-BOS team can't field anyone better than Miguel Cairo (-2.3 VORP), it stands that the NY-BOS team will make up about 4 wins over the season.

In any case, read the damn article, it's interesting. Also 5 of 8 positions in the NY-BOS team are Yankees. Only 8 position b/c the Sox don't have a 2B yet either as far as I can tell.

Someone on the radio the other day said that the only out in Yankee lineup will be the 2B, which may not be that far off the mark. Neyer points out that if the Yankees can get Jose Vidro they would have the following lineup (with number of All-Star appearances in parenthesis).

CF Kenny Lofton (6)
SS Derek Jeter (5)
1B Ja. Giambi (4)
SS Al. Rodriguez (7)
RF Ga. Sheffield (7)
C Jorge Posada (4)
DH Be. Williams (5)
2B Jose Vidro (3)
LF Hideki Matsui (1)

And just for the hell of it, put Vidro into the NY-BOS team discussed above, with his about 45.8 VORP, and combined w/ the ARod details above and they'd make up about 9 games.

Now all of the rankings listed in NY-BOS team are projected by baseballprospectus.com, so I don't know what Vidro would actually be listed as.

But in any case, the Yankees stand to make up some ground (to what I don't know) and I'm pretty damn tired.

Later.
:: Matthew 10:09 PM [+]    ::
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The Nobel Prize in Candy

The Nobel Prize in Candy

Yes! I'm not the only one obsessed w/ m&m's.

Later.
:: Matthew 1:41 PM [+]    ::
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Stars in the East

Baseball Prospectus - Can Of Corn: Stars in the East:

"The upshot is this: pity the rest of the AL East."

Later.
:: Matthew 2:42 PM [+]    ::
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Just a few more days

5 days until pitchers and catchers report.

Sweet. Thanks to Terr for the reminder.

Later.
:: Matthew 8:30 PM [+]    ::
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eXTReMe Tracking - Internet

eXTReMe Tracking - Internet:

"http://ms101.mysearch.com/jsp/GGmain.jsp?st=addr&PG=SEAS&SEC=ABMANY&searchfor=bathroomm+layouts"

Nothing like finding out that you spelled something incorrectly through the referrer logs. Though it turns out it was a problem with the title of the webpage.

Later.
:: Matthew 1:04 PM [+]    ::
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Booblefight

Booble Search:top
Booble Search:bottom

In a booblefight, bottom would definitely win.

Later.
:: Matthew 9:53 PM [+]    ::
...

Distraction

CircusX.com | Ultimate Dodgeball

Passwords:

Crack
Rule

Later.
:: Matthew 8:51 PM [+]    ::
...

Män, Me rælly like Møck Svedskee Tränslätør.

Humbug: Parody:

Though the Score Bard is still tops on my list.

Later.
:: Matthew 1:47 PM [+]    ::
...

Humbug: Periodic Table of Blogs

Humbug: Periodic Table of Blogs

No more obscuroid series for The UberPlexer.

"This time, I've made a bunch of changes that should reflect my tastes a little more accurately. The baseball and politics sections have been narrowed, while the arts and sci-tech sections have been expanded. Links to pages that aren't really blogs were dropped, with a couple of exceptions. "

I'm suprised it lasted so long.

Later.
:: Matthew 1:44 PM [+]    ::
...

More on gas prices

OK, so I followed up a bit on this post.

As I noted in the update at that post, gas is pumped in thousandths of a gallon. And as we know, it's taxed on the tenth of a cent ($0.00x). For instance in New Jersey the gas price is around $1.599 per gallon. This is the amount I used for my calculations. It's the current price in Hoboken. It also falls within the range, albeit on the high end, of the gas prices shown here.

What I did last night, and a bit today, was calculate all the money added or subtracted due to rounding to the cent. However, instead of doing it on the gallon, I broke it down into thousandths of a gallon. I did it from 0.000 gallons to 20.000 gallons. This is 20,000 lines in MS Excel.

I was bemoaning last night that I couldn't average more than 30 cells at a time, however that's changed in my fancy updated MS Excel 2002 that I have at work.

Next I tried to more accurately model the gas situation in the US. First, I changed the range of gas purchases to between $5 and $20. At $1.599 per gallon this is between 3.127 and 12.580 gallons, which seems about right. This is an average gas purchase of 7.818 gallons.

I also realized that no one fills up on millions of gallons of gas, as the first model assumed. Rather there is a definite discrete nature to gas purchases. So I needed to add that in as well.

Let's get down to some numbers (and tables!).

Here is a partial graph of the $5 to $6 range of gas at $1.599.

Extra Money from Tax Rounding ($0.009 tax ending)

Gallons	Actual Price ($)	Charged Price ($)	Additional ($)	Total Extra Gained ($)
3.127	5.000	$5.000	$(0.000)	$0.006
3.128	5.002	$5.000	$(0.002)	$0.004
3.129	5.003	$5.000	$(0.003)	$0.001
3.130	5.005	$5.000	$(0.005)	$(0.004)
3.131	5.006	$5.010	$0.004	$(0.000)
3.132	5.008	$5.010	$0.002	$0.001
3.133	5.010	$5.010	$0.000	$0.002
3.134	5.011	$5.010	$(0.001)	$0.001
3.135	5.013	$5.010	$(0.003)	$(0.002)
3.136	5.014	$5.010	$(0.004)	$(0.007)
3.137	5.016	$5.020	$0.004	$(0.003)
3.138	5.018	$5.020	$0.002	$(0.001)
3.139	5.019	$5.020	$0.001	$0.000
3.140	5.021	$5.020	$(0.001)	$(0.001)
3.141	5.022	$5.020	$(0.002)	$(0.003)

As you can see there are a lot more negative numbers than the original post would have you believe.

Next I averaged the money gained/lost for the range of $5 to $20. Note: # of transactions is based on the approximate gas pumped in the US per year (detailed in the first post), divided by the average number of gallons pumped (7.1875) in each assumed transaction.

Summary of Savings from Tax Rounding in the $5 to $20 range ($0.009 to $0.005)

	$0.009	$0.008	$0.007	$0.006	$0.005
Avg Saving Per Purchase ($5-$20)	$0.00000082978043	0.00000123321253	$0.00000057077382	0.00000097420593	0.00000244350885
Gallons Pumped (Low)	3.1270	3.1270	3.1270	3.1270	3.1270
Gallons Pumped (High)	12.5080	12.5080	12.5080	12.5080	12.5080
Avg Gallons Per Purchase	7.8175	7.8175	7.8175	7.8175	7.8175
# of Transactions	30,278,623,498.6	30,278,623,498.6	30,278,623,498.6	30,278,623,498.6	30,278,623,498.6
Savings from Tax Rounding	$25,124.61	$37,339.98	$17,282.25	$29,497.61	$73,986.08

Summary of Savings from Tax Rounding in the $5 to $20 range ($0.004 to $0.001, Average)

$0.004	$0.003	$0.002	$0.001	Average
0.00000178107013	0.00000005276061	0.00000258793434	(0.00000446972927)	$0.00000066705749
3.1270	3.1270	3.1270	3.1270	3.1270
12.5080	12.5080	12.5080	12.5080	12.5080
7.8175	7.8175	7.8175	7.8175	7.8175
30,278,623,498.6	30,278,623,498.6	30,278,623,498.6	30,278,623,498.6	30,278,623,498.6
$53,928.35	$1,597.52	$78,359.09	$(135,337.25)	$20,197.58

That would leave one to believe that there is again extra money, on average, from tax rounding. I showed ten thousandths of a gallon on either side of the $5 to $20 range and found there was some volatility in a few of the tax endings. So I ran a similar test as above but for the $4 to $19 range and the $6 to $21 range. This is where the real swings showed up, especially in the $0.001 tax range which changed over $200,000 between the $5-$20 range and $4-$19 range.

I also noticed that some endings fluctuated between negative and positive returns. Initial observations are that the following endings at some point have negative returns from tax rounding: 1, 3, 4, 7, 9. The others (2, 5, 6 and 8) were always positive over the ranges that I set.

Of the ones that go negative, the $0.001 ending was only positive at the lower range. $0.003 and $0.007 seemed to flip-flop. $0.004 and $0.009 were only negative at the lower range.

So what happens when we graph them? Check it out here. It was too much to imbed in the blog.

Looks like some graphs are more volatile than others over this range. With some even being negative for a good portion of the range. Interestingly all graphs trend towards a positive return, so even the $0.007 ending (which is mostly negative for this range) appears as if it will trend positive.

So what do we learn from these graphs:

The $0.009 ending in NJ isn't that good for the consumer, you're usually getting screwed because of the rounding process. Especially after about $5. It gets worse the more you pump. So buy gas in small quantities, you may save a penny one day.

$0.008, $0.006, $0.005, $0.004, $0.002 all seem to screw the customer as well. As does the $0.001 ending, but on a different scale, looks like you either give them a lot (relatively) or none at all from rounding.

You can gain a little bit on the $0.003 or $0.007 endings, but it won't average much for each consumer (only on the scale of the gas companies usage).

And even then it's only in the range of $50,000 I'd imagine across the entire United States for an entire year. Not much in terms of the profits they generate. This was much more interesting when I thought someone was making 100 million dollars off of the consumer.

But I still want to know who gets this extra money. And does anyone know of a place where the gas tax ending is $0.003 or $0.007? I doubt it.

That's enough of wasting time.

Later.
:: Matthew 3:31 PM [+]    ::
...

Heh heh

ESPN.com - Gammons: NL East breakdown

Check out the Mets logo. Currently it's the crosstown team.

Later.
:: Matthew 2:43 PM [+]    ::
...

How to get to the Computer Service Center

Josh's Gallery :: Campus :: 4

Like most things at Stevens, confusing.

Later.
:: Matthew 2:05 PM [+]    ::
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Mikey Ferrara is stalking me

Comments - Powered by HaloScan.com

And this would be referring to this post.

Later.
:: Matthew 12:09 AM [+]    ::
...

So I'm a little bored

Gas Station Information

New Jersey Gas Prices

[Update: gas is pumped to the hundreth of a gallon. I'm checking out how that affects below now. See here.
OK, a bit more news on this update before you slog through this entire post. First off all, it's a lot of lines of table, oh say about 20,000 so it's taking a while. I did a quick graph, shown here. It looks upwardly trending - and has a positive equation, but with a low R2 value. If this does make sense as an equation, then the companies would be making a lot of money. Methodology-wise, I've been thinking that most purchases are between $5 and $20, and I should reflect that. I was going to take the average "total extra gained" for this "charged price zone." The pain in the ass part is that Excel will only calculate an average over a range of 30 cells. This means I need to calculate 30 averages, then average those to get the average. This is turning out to be a pain in the ass because Excel isn't recognizing how I want the cells to populate as I drag down the menu. The people next door are fighting, so I may pick this up in the morning.]

Note that the second doesn't include the $0.00x tax price. I'm pretty sure that taxes on gasoline in NY and NJ end in $0.009. And what got me thinking is what happens when you round that last bit up or down. [Note: I watched Office Space the other day. It worked in Superman 3.]

Well I decided to find out using MS Excel.

I made a nice little table for what happens when the tax is $0.009. Here's a preview of the first bit:

Extra Money from Tax Rounding ($0.009 tax ending)

Gallons	Actual Price ($)	Charged Price ($)	Additional ($)	Total Extra Gained ($)
1	1.599	1.600	0.001	0.001
2	3.198	3.200	0.002	0.003
3	4.797	4.800	0.003	0.006
4	6.396	6.400	0.004	0.010
5	7.995	8.000	0.005	0.015
6	9.594	9.590	-0.004	0.011
7	11.193	11.190	-0.003	0.008
8	12.792	12.790	-0.002	0.006
9	14.391	14.390	-0.001	0.005
10	15.990	15.990	0.000	0.005
11	17.589	17.590	0.001	0.006
12	19.188	19.190	0.002	0.008
13	20.787	20.790	0.003	0.011
14	22.386	22.390	0.004	0.015
15	23.985	23.990	0.005	0.020
16	25.584	25.580	-0.004	0.016
17	27.183	27.180	-0.003	0.013
18	28.782	28.780	-0.002	0.011
19	30.381	30.380	-0.001	0.010
20	31.980	31.980	0.000	0.010

Point of order: I used an assumed price of $1.599 to start. I don't remember why.

OK, so what happens if you graph this bad boy:



Definite upward trend. But over the 100 gallons that I first tabled it only accounted for a nickel ($0.050), not much to speak of.

So I needed to know what order of magnitude I was working with here, in terms of gallons per year. The first link provided some handy-dandy, if not outdated information.

In 1998 (the most up-to-date year for which I found information) an average store sold 95,100 gallons of gasoline per month. This is 1,141,200 gallons per year out of each store. In 1998 there were 207,416 stores being operated in the United States. This may be lower now, as reported here (maybe more on the order of 160,000 stations, but I'll keep same year numbers).

Running a linear regression model on the graph gets us a fairly accurate line with the equation y=0.0005x+0.0044 with an R2 value of 0.9311.

OK, so 207,416 stores * 1,141,200 gallons/store/year = 236,703,139,200 gallons per year. Plugging that into the equation above yields us $118,352,482.23 in money from the consumer gained by tax rounding. Wow, that's starting to get considerable.

So then I started wondering what would happen if the tax changed the price to $0.008, $0.007, $0.006, etc. All the way to $0.000 which of course would be exact.

Well, the copy and paste function works fine on Excel so I can tell you what happens.

After running the numbers for all of the possible $0.00x endings I found that odd numbers have a good linear increasing trend, similar to that of $0.009. R2 values ranged from the 0.9311 above to 0.9997 of $0.005. Which makes sense as 5 is the hinge number for rounding.

Not so with the even numbers. They were very much a step function, as shown below for $0.008:



As you can see from the following table, the money saved from tax rounding follows the following pattern: $0.002, $0.006, $0.002, $0.000, $0.000, $0.002, $0.006, $0.002, $0.000, $0.000... [Note: don't mind the regression numbers, it never goes negative. Probably just a product of the small sample size.]

Extra Money from Tax Rounding ($0.008 tax ending)

Gallons	Actual Price ($)	Charged Price ($)	Additional ($)	Total Extra Gained ($)
1	1.598	1.600	0.002	0.002
2	3.196	3.200	0.004	0.006
3	4.794	4.790	-0.004	0.002
4	6.392	6.390	-0.002	0.000
5	7.990	7.990	0.000	0.000
6	9.588	9.590	0.002	0.002
7	11.186	11.190	0.004	0.006
8	12.784	12.780	-0.004	0.002
9	14.382	14.380	-0.002	0.000
10	15.980	15.980	0.000	0.000
11	17.578	17.580	0.002	0.002
12	19.176	19.180	0.004	0.006
13	20.774	20.770	-0.004	0.002
14	22.372	22.370	-0.002	0.000
15	23.970	23.970	0.000	0.000
16	25.568	25.570	0.002	0.002
17	27.166	27.170	0.004	0.006
18	28.764	28.760	-0.004	0.002
19	30.362	30.360	-0.002	0.000
20	31.960	31.960	0.000	0.000

Looking into the actual amounts of gasoline which end in tenths, you get the following:

Extra Money from Tax Rounding ($0.008 tax ending)

Gallons	Actual Price ($)	Charged Price ($)	Additional ($)	Total Extra Gained ($)
4.01	6.408	6.410	0.002	0.002
4.02	6.424	6.420	-0.004	-0.002
4.03	6.440	6.440	0.000	-0.002
4.04	6.456	6.460	0.004	0.002
4.05	6.472	6.470	-0.002	0.000
4.06	6.488	6.490	0.002	0.002
4.07	6.504	6.500	-0.004	-0.001
4.08	6.520	6.520	0.000	-0.001
4.09	6.536	6.540	0.004	0.003
4.1	6.552	6.550	-0.002	0.001
4.11	6.568	6.570	0.002	0.003
4.12	6.584	6.580	-0.004	0.000
4.13	6.600	6.600	0.000	0.000
4.14	6.616	6.620	0.004	0.004
4.15	6.632	6.630	-0.002	0.002
4.16	6.648	6.650	0.002	0.005
4.17	6.664	6.660	-0.004	0.001
4.18	6.680	6.680	0.000	0.001
4.19	6.696	6.700	0.004	0.006
4.2	6.712	6.710	-0.002	0.004
4.21	6.728	6.730	0.002	0.007
4.22	6.744	6.740	-0.004	0.003
4.23	6.760	6.760	0.000	0.004
4.24	6.776	6.780	0.004	0.008
4.25	6.792	6.790	-0.002	0.006
4.26	6.807	6.810	0.003	0.009
4.27	6.823	6.820	-0.003	0.006
4.28	6.839	6.840	0.001	0.006
4.29	6.855	6.860	0.005	0.011
4.3	6.871	6.870	-0.001	0.009
4.31	6.887	6.890	0.003	0.012
4.32	6.903	6.900	-0.003	0.009
4.33	6.919	6.920	0.001	0.009
4.34	6.935	6.940	0.005	0.014
4.35	6.951	6.950	-0.001	0.013
4.36	6.967	6.970	0.003	0.015
4.37	6.983	6.980	-0.003	0.012
4.38	6.999	7.000	0.001	0.013
4.39	7.015	7.020	0.005	0.018
4.4	7.031	7.030	-0.001	0.016
4.41	7.047	7.050	0.003	0.019
4.42	7.063	7.060	-0.003	0.016
4.43	7.079	7.080	0.001	0.017
4.44	7.095	7.100	0.005	0.022
4.45	7.111	7.110	-0.001	0.021
4.46	7.127	7.130	0.003	0.024
4.47	7.143	7.140	-0.003	0.021
4.48	7.159	7.160	0.001	0.022
4.49	7.175	7.180	0.005	0.026
4.5	7.191	7.190	-0.001	0.025
4.51	7.207	7.210	0.003	0.029
4.52	7.223	7.220	-0.003	0.026
4.53	7.239	7.240	0.001	0.027
4.54	7.255	7.250	-0.005	0.022
4.55	7.271	7.270	-0.001	0.021
4.56	7.287	7.290	0.003	0.024
4.57	7.303	7.300	-0.003	0.021
4.58	7.319	7.320	0.001	0.022
4.59	7.335	7.330	-0.005	0.017
4.6	7.351	7.350	-0.001	0.017
4.61	7.367	7.370	0.003	0.020
4.62	7.383	7.380	-0.003	0.017
4.63	7.399	7.400	0.001	0.018
4.64	7.415	7.410	-0.005	0.014
4.65	7.431	7.430	-0.001	0.013
4.66	7.447	7.450	0.003	0.016
4.67	7.463	7.460	-0.003	0.014
4.68	7.479	7.480	0.001	0.015
4.69	7.495	7.490	-0.005	0.010
4.7	7.511	7.510	-0.001	0.010
4.71	7.527	7.530	0.003	0.013
4.72	7.543	7.540	-0.003	0.011
4.73	7.559	7.560	0.001	0.012
4.74	7.575	7.570	-0.005	0.007
4.75	7.591	7.590	-0.001	0.007
4.76	7.606	7.610	0.004	0.011
4.77	7.622	7.620	-0.002	0.008
4.78	7.638	7.640	0.002	0.010
4.79	7.654	7.650	-0.004	0.005
4.8	7.670	7.670	0.000	0.005
4.81	7.686	7.690	0.004	0.008
4.82	7.702	7.700	-0.002	0.006
4.83	7.718	7.720	0.002	0.008
4.84	7.734	7.730	-0.004	0.003
4.85	7.750	7.750	0.000	0.003
4.86	7.766	7.770	0.004	0.007
4.87	7.782	7.780	-0.002	0.005
4.88	7.798	7.800	0.002	0.006
4.89	7.814	7.810	-0.004	0.002
4.9	7.830	7.830	0.000	0.002
4.91	7.846	7.850	0.004	0.006
4.92	7.862	7.860	-0.002	0.004
4.93	7.878	7.880	0.002	0.005
4.94	7.894	7.890	-0.004	0.001
4.95	7.910	7.910	0.000	0.001
4.96	7.926	7.930	0.004	0.005
4.97	7.942	7.940	-0.002	0.003
4.98	7.958	7.960	0.002	0.005
4.99	7.974	7.970	-0.004	0.001

So it can go negative. And if you look at all the even ending tax numbers you find that they all fluctuate as follows:

Even Ending Tax Number Fluctuations

$0.008	$0.002	$0.006	$0.002	$0.000	$0.000	$0.002	$0.006	$0.002	$0.000
$0.006	$0.004	$0.002	$0.004	$0.000	$0.000	$0.004	$0.002	$0.004	$0.000
$0.004	$0.004	-$0.002	-$0.004	$0.000	$0.000	-$0.004	-$0.002	-$0.004	$0.000
$0.002	$0.002	-$0.006	-$0.002	$0.000	$0.000	-$0.002	-$0.006	-$0.002	$0.000

Summing up the even-ending tax numbers, which I've gotten a little lost in: The most you're going to lose is around $0.006, which is essentially zero, especially on the scale on which the odd-ending tax numbers really make an impact.

So in my final table, I made the even-ending tax numbers add nothing to the sum total.

So here is the last table which I have the stomach for. It shows the amount of money gained from tax rounding on all the different possible tax endings for the amount of gas pumped in the US in 1998.

Holy Shit That's a Lot of Money!

Tax Ending	Money Gained by Rounding
0.009	$ 118,351,569.60
0.008	$0
0.007	$ 118,351,569.60
0.006	$0
0.005	$ 591,757,848.00
0.004	$0
0.003	$ 118,351,569.60
0.002	$0
0.001	$ 118,351,569.60
0.000	$0
Total	$ 1,065,164,126.40
Total/10 outcomes	$ 106,516,412.64

Assuming that across the US, there are an equal number of gas stations at each tax ending, the net profit from rounding is $106,516,412.64015. That's a boat load of money. Where does it go? Certainly not the consumer, so it's either the government or the gas stations. And I have my suspicions that the gas companies are raking in an extra 106 million each year because of this.

Some other notes on the final table: does anyone know of an area where the tax ends in an even number? Do gas companies want it to end in an odd number? If I were a gas station, and keeping these profits, I would lobby pretty damn hard to have the government tax end in $0.005.

So many questions... if gas is a regulated commodity, do they hide these gains? If the government gets this money, is it not reported?

And I lied, one last table. The gas station information .pdf file has market share information for 1998, so if the companies "make" this money, this is what each company stands to make:

Wish I Worked at Exxon/Mobil

Company	Market Share (%)	Money Gained
Exxon Mobil	18.61	$19,822,704.39
BP Amoco	10.73	$11,429,211.08
Marathon	8.24	$8,776,952.40
Texaco (Equilon)	8.22	$8,755,649.12
Citgo	7.98	$8,500,009.73
Chevron	7.70	$8,201,763.77
Sunoco	4.45	$4,739,980.36
Texaco (Motiva)	4.35	$4,633,463.95
Arco	3.63	$3,866,545.78
Phillips	3.58	$3,813,287.57

Note: this only accounts for 77.49% - I guess the rest is from smaller companies. I'm suprised Hess isn't on here.

So there you have it. Where does all of this money go?

If anyone can, tell me what the tax ending is in their state/municipality.

Next up/similar vein: New York's 7 1/4 percent sales tax. Who wins on that?

Later.
:: Matthew 10:11 PM [+]    ::
...

Salon.com News | The foolishness of the baseball writers. Plus: More baseball memories

Barra's Baseball Memories:

"15) In 1979, watching Yankees third baseman Lenny Randle on his hands and knees, trying to blow a slow roller from fair territory to foul. Lenny was tossed from the game, and the ball was ruled a hit. Lenny was my kind of guy. That wussy Carlton Fisk just tried to wave the ball fair. My boy Lenny got down there and tried to do something about it."
:: Matthew 8:47 PM [+]    ::
...

Duffman rules!

"I took that Inferno test you have on your weblog, and I have to say that you're a total pussy....

-Duffman"

Later.


:: Matthew 4:03 PM [+]    ::
...

ESPN.com - Black History

ESPN.com - BLACKHISTORY - Elevate the legacy:

"Yet as the pitchers and the catchers, and soon all the rest, begin reporting to training camp, only Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera will be wearing Robinson's immortal No. 42. In a thoughtful and meaningful gesture seven years ago to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier, Major League Baseball retired his number throughout each league. Once Rivera retires, it will be gone.
How unfortunate."

Don't know how the players would feel about switching numbers for a year. Jeter wearing 42? Don't know about that. I think that players seem to be very superstitious and this may force a player to switch his number for a year.

Later.
:: Matthew 1:35 PM [+]    ::
...

WHATEVER: One Vote Majority

WHATEVER: One Vote Majority

In the comments, the following ummm..... comment:

"If you use the word "sacred" (or "sanctified") to describe marriage, you are automatically placing it outside the bounds of government to restrict, because "sacred"="religious", and the government is prohibited from meddling in religion."

Very true.

Later.
:: Matthew 12:30 PM [+]    ::
...

What my night was like

Comments - Powered by HaloScan.com

Also, it's odd referencing comments in another post. Especially b/c it doesn't tell you what post it refers to.

This sucked.

Later.
:: Matthew 12:03 AM [+]    ::
...

Comments

Confirmation that nobody is actually out there.

Later.

P.S. I want to put the "Later." ending in my template, which is easy enough to do, but I'd have to go back and delete it from every post I've ever written. Which is way too much work.

So, seeing as it was Duffman's birthday, I'm going to follow his example and say fuck it.

Something I've been meaning to post is that I was outside the other day and the mail people were talking about losing an entire bag somewhere uptown. Apparently some old dude found it and left it outside, but no one actually picked it up. They were sending someone to go check on it, and I didn't hear the ending.

But seriously, you shouldn't lose an entire bag of mail.

Later.
:: Matthew 11:54 PM [+]    ::
...

Uh Oh

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Extreme
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

Later.
:: Matthew 3:30 PM [+]    ::
...

Fly The Copter

Fly The Copter - South Coast Diaries - Seethru Zine

Katie: 1409
Vinnie: 1226
Matt: 1178

Later.
:: Matthew 1:31 PM [+]    ::
...

Order words the of important is

IKEA | IKEA Elizabeth:

"Our restaurant offers an organic children's pasta dish..."

Mmmmm.... unprocessed children.

Later.
:: Matthew 11:32 AM [+]    ::
...

Damn

2020 Search :: home made masturbation toys

Not too happy that the UberPlexer comes up on this search.

Later.
:: Matthew 3:49 PM [+]    ::
...

Hey! New Out Like... Jokes

B.A.'s "I'm Out Like..." Sayings

Later.
:: Matthew 3:47 PM [+]    ::
...

Penguin Baseball

Ambient Irony#011144

This is far too fun.

Records so far:
In the air: 791.6
Bouncing along the ground: 1215

[Update: 792.4 in the air]
[Update II: 1215.8 bouncing]
[Update III: 1224.1 bouncing]
[Update IV: 793.3 in the air]

Also you can find a version that tracks distances at: this page.

Later.
:: Matthew 3:27 PM [+]    ::
...

Check out the picture

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Whale explodes in Taiwanese city:

"Passers-by and cars were soaked in blood and body parts were sprayed over a road after the bursting of the whale, which was being carried on a trailer. "

Gruesome picture.

Later.
:: Matthew 3:04 PM [+]    ::
...