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• February 13th, 2009

  What is the name for the British slang where words are replaced with others that rhyme with the original word?

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• January 27th, 2009

  When union contracts expire and there is no new contract, can you continue under the existing contract indefinitely?

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• January 6th, 2009

  Is there a way to filter RSS feeds for certain topics?

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• October 20th, 2008

  When I box up my bike to ship, do I have to remove the front and rear racks?

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• October 20th, 2008

  Reasonable place to stay in downtown San Antonio?

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Answers

• 3 weeks ago

  How does psychology play a role in economics?

  Take a look at behavioral economics. But I would fault your premise -the panic of a bank run is rational if there is a risk the bank will close and you won’t have access to your money. If that is a real risk, then you want to be the first in line to make sure your money is in your hands. So individually rational decisions lead to a collective catastrophe. That is why we now have FDIC insurance on bank deposits. But you see the same boom and bust with stocks and other markets for similar reasons.
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• 3 weeks ago

  What is a good conservative investment right now?

  CDs are safest, and you are only commiting to the term of the CD, which can be 3,6,12+months, so that fits your couple of year time frame. Money market accounts are still very conservative/relatively safe – and the govt has shown they are interested in making sure those don’t drop in value. Neither will get you very strong returns, as interest rates are being kept very low by the federal reserve, but you should get 1–1.5% at least, 10x better than your current, even if it isn’t much. Or hold out a bit longer and see if interest rates start to rise. With 20k over 2 years, you are still only talking a few hundred dollars in interest. If you are talking 10 years out, I would definitely consider stocks, probably start with market index funds, for at least some percent of your cash.
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• 3 weeks ago

  What is a good conservative investment right now?

  @yarnlady, the gov did an emergency guarrantee on money markets to prevent panic after the lehman bankruptcy, because a mutual fund that had a lot of lehman short term debt was forced to state a value of 97 cents a share, “breaking the buck”. Since money market funds are supposed to be ultra safe, the govt didn’t want a new panic to start, and issued a temporary guarrantee.
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• 1 month ago

  What's the quickest public transit route from San Francisco to Sunnyvale?

  If you can get yourself to the caltrain station at 22nd (Potrero) or 4th and King (SOMA near ballpark), skip the BART and it’ll be quicker.
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• 2 months ago

  How does one properly ride on a bus while standing?

  You can also anticipate starting, stopping, and turning. Lean forward before the driver accelerates, lean back before the driver gets to a light or stop and brakes, lean in to a turn, etc. This gives you more ‘give’ before you get knocked over.
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