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Category Archives: Statistics
October 23, 2011
- First thing is first, calm down.
- Does this go on my record?
- Should I contact the lawyer on the letter?
- What could happen, if I wait it out?
- Where to find a lawyer?
- What could happen, if I fight, or settle?
Calm Down and Stop Pirating
If you’ve just received a letter from your ISP that they’re being subpoenaed for your information, take a deep breath. My brother was in your same shoes, and my family decided to support him through the process. Not everyone has the same family support, so I decided to pull this all together based on our family’s experience dealing with a copyright infringement lawsuit. It’s definitely a more and more common occurrence, yet it seems like no one really knows how to react. I’m not a lawyer, so I’m just sharing what our lawyer told us or what we researched. I’ve shared his story with a few of my friends, and was surprised to find out that a few of them had been sued in the past or knew of someone who had.
So the next thing to do is stop pirating. Or if it’s a family member, make sure that they stop pirating. The cost of defending someone in a copyright infringement case is staggeringly high compared to the cost of purchasing the thing (music, movies, programs, whatever) that was pirated.
Does this go on my record?
Well the good news is that the copyright infringement lawsuits are civil suits. You only admit or deny liability for whatever they’re suing for. So on the bright side, if you were worrying about the suit showing up on a background check, it won’t. Generally, background checks only look for criminal lawsuits; the reason being is that civil suits are more complicated and can be easily misconstrued by outsiders not familiar with the case.
Should I contact the lawyer on the letter?
Never contact the lawyer on the letter without a lawyer of your own. Talking to the opposition lawyer with out a lawyer could lead to you accidentally admitting or the lawyer might try to scare you to Jesus.
Here’s what happened to one guy that talked without a lawyer: they named him in the case and are suing him individually instead of in the mass lawsuit.
What might happen if I wait it out?
If you ignore it, there’s a risk of a default settlement or on the flip side the whole case could get dismissed. A default settlement would only happen if you’ve been summoned to court and don’t show up. In that case, the person suing you automatically wins. On the other hand, most copyright infringement lawsuits never go to court as there is some kind error on the part of the people doing the suing. In that case there’s a good chance that there might be a mass dismissal of Does. It happens pretty frequently, but I’m not so sure if you should bank on it.
Good resources to check up on for your case specifically are:
http://torrentfreak.com/
http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/
The thing about these lawsuits is that the lawyers are trying out all sorts of different ways to sue lots of people at once, and when they do things like that there’s a higher likelihood that they did something wrong which might result in their case getting thrown out. It’s always good to check up on those two websites to see if the lawyers, going after you, might have done something like that. Now, if you decide to fight or settle, you need a lawyer.
Where to find a lawyer?
Start off with the EFF list https://www.eff.org/issues/file-sharing/subpoena-defense for your state.
Also check with your local Bar Association to see if they have a lawyer referral service. We called our local Bar association and got some rude ghetto woman, so I would suggest searching through the Bar Association directory for someone who you would feel comfortable with before calling.
Sticker Shock! Lawyers will cost somewhere between $150-250+ dollars an hour. Generally, you can call them and talk to them about your case for free. But if you want them to represent you, you’ll need to deposit a couple thousand dollars. There are some lawyers, who will offer a flat fee for copyright infringement cases, and that could be $750+ total. For my brother, we got charged 7 billable hours for a total of $1,500.
Fight or Settle?
Our lawyer was adamant that in a court, the liability would be found to be a fraction of what the people suing my brother wanted. He ultimately decided to settle for personal reasons, but I think it’s good to point out that the cost of going to court versus the decreased settlement costs.
When my brother decided to settle, the opposition basically submitted a form to the court that the case against Doe X had been dropped with prejudice. The prejudice part is important because that means that they won’t try to sue him again for the same thing. And that’s where his story ends.
Conclusion
Breathe, this will be a stressful situation to be in, but it all comes down to economics. The people suing you are trying to get as many people to settle as possible to keep their costs low and bring in as much money as possible. You are trying to keep the amount you’re going to pay for either lawyers or settlement as low as possible.
October 9, 2011
Based on data from the 2010 US census, the states with the highest percentage of partnered same-sex households are:
- Massachusetts: 1.92%
- Vermont: 1.89%
- New Mexico: 1.84%
- New York: 1.77%
- California: 1.76%
With an honorable mention to the District of Columbia with a fabulous 6.5%.
And the lowest:
- North Dakota: 0.72%
- South Dakota: 0.76%
- Wyoming: 0.87%
- Idaho: 0.91%
- Nebraska: 0.91%
I think the moral of this story is that gay people do settle down, just not in the frozen plains.
Note: These numbers are of a percentage of partnered households (same-sex and opposite-sex, regardless of marriage status), so single households and other types of households are excluded.
Here’s a little map to help you see trends. The darker the purple, the more same-sex couples there are as a percentage of the number of partnered households.
Find your state:
| Category | Same Sex Households | Opposite Sex Households |
| Alabama | 1.14% | 98.86% |
| Alaska | 1.24% | 98.76% |
| Arizona | 1.57% | 98.43% |
| Arkansas | 1.11% | 98.89% |
| California | 1.76% | 98.24% |
| Colorado | 1.47% | 98.53% |
| Connecticut | 1.41% | 98.59% |
| Delaware | 1.76% | 98.24% |
| District of Columbia | 6.50% | 93.50% |
| Florida | 1.64% | 98.36% |
| Georgia | 1.55% | 98.45% |
| Hawaii | 1.61% | 98.39% |
| Idaho | 0.91% | 99.09% |
| Illinois | 1.23% | 98.77% |
| Indiana | 1.16% | 98.84% |
| Iowa | 0.92% | 99.08% |
| Kansas | 0.98% | 99.02% |
| Kentucky | 1.21% | 98.79% |
| Louisiana | 1.37% | 98.63% |
| Maine | 1.68% | 98.32% |
| Maryland | 1.46% | 98.54% |
| Massachusetts | 1.92% | 98.08% |
| Michigan | 1.04% | 98.96% |
| Minnesota | 1.14% | 98.86% |
| Mississippi | 1.10% | 98.90% |
| Missouri | 1.16% | 98.84% |
| Montana | 1.00% | 99.00% |
| Nebraska | 0.91% | 99.09% |
| Nevada | 1.70% | 98.30% |
| New Hampshire | 1.48% | 98.52% |
| New Jersey | 1.31% | 98.69% |
| New Mexico | 1.84% | 98.16% |
| New York | 1.77% | 98.23% |
| North Carolina | 1.34% | 98.66% |
| North Dakota | 0.72% | 99.28% |
| Ohio | 1.15% | 98.85% |
| Oklahoma | 1.21% | 98.79% |
| Oregon | 1.75% | 98.25% |
| Pennsylvania | 1.22% | 98.78% |
| Puerto Rico | 0.93% | 99.07% |
| Rhode Island | 1.70% | 98.30% |
| South Carolina | 1.20% | 98.80% |
| South Dakota | 0.76% | 99.24% |
| Tennessee | 1.20% | 98.80% |
| Texas | 1.34% | 98.66% |
| Utah | 1.01% | 98.99% |
| Vermont | 1.89% | 98.11% |
| Virginia | 1.20% | 98.80% |
| Washington | 1.63% | 98.37% |
| West Virginia | 1.22% | 98.78% |
| Wisconsin | 1.05% | 98.95% |
| Wyoming | 0.87% | 99.13% |
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In the interest of transparency, here’s the original data table from the US 2010 Census with the numbers of how many same-sex, opposite-sex, and single households there were in the USA in 2010: DEC_10_SF1_PCT15
If you’d like to pull it directly from the Census website search for table PCT15.
September 25, 2011
- An interesting thing to note is that the when you sort by the highest per capita GDP the top 9 metro areas are coastal regions. And while, there is a lot of East Coast vs West Coast, some of the cities aren’t exactly the ones that you would think would appear.
- Detroit Metro area seems to be doing better than all the stories would make you think. Sure it’s towards the bottom, but it’s no where near the post apocalyptic vision that people make it out to be.
Note: the data is from the Census Bureau’s 2010 results and the US Treasury
| Metro area | Gross metropolitan product (2010) | Population | Per Capital GMP |
| Salt Lake City, UT | $66,456,000,000 | 1,124,197.00 | $59,114.19 |
| Birmingham-Hoover, AL | $53,834,000,000 | 1,128,047.00 | $47,723.19 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | $57,278,000,000 | 1,130,490.00 | $50,666.53 |
| New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA | $71,476,000,000 | 1,167,764.00 | $61,207.57 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $87,963,000,000 | 1,212,381.00 | $72,553.92 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | $58,339,000,000 | 1,252,987.00 | $46,559.94 |
| Richmond, VA | $64,321,000,000 | 1,258,251.00 | $51,119.37 |
| Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN | $58,572,000,000 | 1,307,647.00 | $44,791.90 |
| Memphis, TN-MS-AR | $65,025,000,000 | 1,316,100.00 | $49,407.34 |
| Jacksonville, FL | $60,303,000,000 | 1,345,596.00 | $44,815.09 |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI | $84,574,000,000 | 1,555,908.00 | $54,356.68 |
| Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | $80,898,000,000 | 1,589,934.00 | $50,881.36 |
| Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA | $66,334,000,000 | 1,600,852.00 | $41,436.68 |
| Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC | $80,518,000,000 | 1,671,683.00 | $48,165.83 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $86,029,000,000 | 1,716,289.00 | $50,125.01 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel, IN | $105,163,000,000 | 1,756,241.00 | $59,879.60 |
| Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC | $113,568,000,000 | 1,758,038.00 | $64,599.29 |
| Columbus, OH | $93,353,000,000 | 1,836,536.00 | $50,831.02 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $168,517,000,000 | 1,836,911.00 | $91,739.34 |
| Las Vegas-Paradise, NV | $89,799,000,000 | 1,951,269.00 | $46,020.82 |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | $105,968,000,000 | 2,035,334.00 | $52,064.18 |
| Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH | $105,625,000,000 | 2,077,240.00 | $50,848.72 |
| Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN | $100,594,000,000 | 2,130,151.00 | $47,223.88 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $104,107,000,000 | 2,134,411.00 | $48,775.52 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | $82,036,000,000 | 2,142,508.00 | $38,289.71 |
| Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA | $92,873,000,000 | 2,149,127.00 | $43,214.29 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $124,683,000,000 | 2,226,009.00 | $56,011.90 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $115,752,000,000 | 2,356,285.00 | $49,124.79 |
| Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO | $157,567,000,000 | 2,543,482.00 | $61,949.33 |
| Baltimore-Towson, MD | $144,789,000,000 | 2,710,489.00 | $53,418.04 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $113,702,000,000 | 2,783,243.00 | $40,852.34 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | $129,734,000,000 | 2,812,896.00 | $46,121.15 |
| San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA | $171,568,000,000 | 3,095,313.00 | $55,428.32 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $199,596,000,000 | 3,279,833.00 | $60,855.54 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $231,221,000,000 | 3,439,809.00 | $67,219.14 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ | $190,601,000,000 | 4,192,887.00 | $45,458.18 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $109,818,000,000 | 4,224,851.00 | $25,993.34 |
| Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI | $197,773,000,000 | 4,296,250.00 | $46,033.87 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $325,927,000,000 | 4,335,391.00 | $75,178.22 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH | $313,690,000,000 | 4,552,402.00 | $68,906.48 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA | $272,362,000,000 | 5,268,860.00 | $51,692.78 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | $257,560,000,000 | 5,564,635.00 | $46,285.16 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $425,167,000,000 | 5,582,170.00 | $76,165.18 |
| Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX | $384,603,000,000 | 5,946,800.00 | $64,673.94 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | $346,932,000,000 | 5,965,343.00 | $58,157.93 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $374,081,000,000 | 6,371,773.00 | $58,709.09 |
| Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI | $532,331,000,000 | 9,461,105.00 | $56,265.20 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA | $735,743,000,000 | 12,828,837.00 | $57,350.72 |
| New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA | $1,280,517,000,000 | 18,897,109.00 | $67,762.59 |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT | $84,882,000,000 | 916,829.00 | $92,582.15 |
September 10, 2011
Apparently that number is around 40,000 jobs, per the WSJ’s article on Bank of America.
What does that work out to on a per job basis by quarter?
$1,500,000,000 savings = [Quarterly Cost per Job] * 40,000 people losing their jobs
$37,500 = [Quarterly Cost per Job]
4 quarters in a year * $37,500 = 4 quarters in a year * [Quarterly Cost per Job]
$150,000 = [Annual Cost per Job]
$150,000?!?! That seems a bit high, but they’re probably building in a lot of money to account for tighter budgets (no more company picnics), buildings they’re going to be closing, and contracted support staff who will also be laid off.
September 4, 2011
Everywhere I turn there are old people who have been laid off complaining about age discrimination and how their years of experience are ignored in favor of younger workers. This is a complete reversal of what my peers have experienced as they being to enter the workforce in their post-college lives. To them, employers are only looking for experienced workers and are unwilling to put the effort into training newly minted college graduates. So which of these perspectives is grounded in data?
So let’s look at the employment rates first. The graph below is of the monthly unemployment rate (seasonally unadjusted) from 2007 to 2011 by age groups 20-24 and 25-29 to represent the younger age cohorts and 45-54 and 55+ to represent the older age cohorts.
*Raw data attached at bottom of post
As you can see from the general curves, the unemployment rates for every age group has fluctuated in the same relative direction. So, everyone is getting impacted pretty evenly, and in general older age groups have lower unemployment than younger age groups. One interesting thing to note is that unemployment has basically plateaued since 2009, nearly 2 years ago.
Now let’s look and see if those numbers have translated into any shifts in the composition of the unemployed population by age.
Again, the differences in pre-recession 2007 vs July 2011 are minimal. So this reiterates that as a whole, unemployment has been hitting all age groups pretty evenly.
Conclusion, it sucks out there. If you’re a newly graduated young adult or a newly laid off professional, there’s no time to keep wallowing in what you perceive to be discrimination whether because you’re too old or too young. This stagnation in employment is hitting young and old fairly evenly, and it doesn’t look like things are getting much better.
Unemployment Excel File
August 31, 2011
Read about Google’s acquisition of Slide
Sure the $200 million purchase of Slide pales incomparison to Google’s merger with Motorola Mobility. But I can’t help but wonder if this could happen to Motorola too. Slide was purchased for one thing as was Motorola Mobility, but both came with a lot of baggage. In Motorola’s case that would be 20,000 employees plus a feature phones and a set top box and cable modem business (Motorola Mobility – Home). Google can’t just absorb thousands of people-unlike the 50 or so from Slide who will be mere drops in the Google conglomerate- if they happen to want to focus on core businesses (set top boxes for Google TV or smartphones) with their new acquisition.
Good luck my friends at Motorola Mobility. You always knew that you’d get screwed in the end anyways at an independent Motorola Mobility, or else you would’ve tried hard to get with Motorola Solutions before the split. So maybe this will be a bit better overall for you all, but keep your heads down.
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