My Business Logic

Code Alert! This is a part of our continuing series on Engineering at LinkedIn. If this isn’t your cup of Java, check back tomorrow for regular LinkedIn programming. In the meanwhile, check out some of our latest product features, tips and tricks, or user stories. - Ed.

We launched a new version of the LinkedIn Polls application towards the end of last year. The new version was a major overhaul from a usability standpoint, making it easier to vote, share, and interact with a poll. Our engineering team’s goals included promoting agility in code development and simplicity of operations in production.

Here’s a showcase of a few of the technologies used to re-build LinkedIn Polls with insight into why we chose to employ them.

Ruby and Rails 3

Ruby is a great language for building business rules. It’s concise, highly readable and perhaps most importantly, it’s fun to program in. Polls use

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He envisions 15,000 spring breakers gyrating on the beach to tunes spun by top-notch DJs flown in from New York, L.A. and Miami. He would supply those sophisticated partiers with booze served by “beautiful people” as they danced deep into the night or chatted on “sexy lounge chairs.”

But this is Sarasota. And Miami’s party scene is not likely to appeal to the general population here.

Sarasota County officials were torn by Rush’s proposal. Events like Rush’s “Siesta Sessions” are exactly what many say the county needs to attract a younger population and diversify the all-important tourist business. But this week they decided a massive spring break party going for several days might not be the best idea during Sarasota’s peak snowbird season, and put a required permit on hold.

“I believe Sarasota is ready for these kind of events,” Rush said.

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 Thanks to Keebler and Associates, LLP, CPAs for this summary:

Limit the tax rate that certain individuals will get a benefit for their itemized deductions – For investors filing joint returns and having income over $250,000 itemized deductions would only reduce the investor’s tax liability by a maximum of 28%. For those investors who purchase securities on margin this limitation could be very costly. Short-term capital gains and interest income would be taxed at a rate of 35% yet the interest expense would only receive a 28% benefit. If an investor earned $100,000 of interest income and incurred $100,000 of margin interest expense, while the investor would have broken even on a pre-tax basis, he would be liable for $7,000 in tax.

 Require a minimum 10 year term for grantor retained annuity trusts (“GRATs”) – Currently, investors are able to contribute property to a trust and retain an annuity interest in the trust. Any exces

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Were always looking for creative ways to help our users learn the ins and outs of LinkedIn. Knowing that the average office worker can only watch a screenshot tutorial for a few seconds before the onset of spontaneous narcolepsy, we developed a fun, retro-themed webseries for small and medium business owners with the help of FedEx.

We call it LinkedIns Timeless Guide To Small Business Success.

Over six episodes, youll follow small business owners John, Alice and Stanley as they seek to grow their operations from home office to professional workspace, hire an experienced team, find corporate partners, and more.

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Modern day movies and television commercials (including a recent one by DirecTV) sometimes feature a lawyer reading the will of a deceased testator to his family.  Occasionally I even get questions about the ceremony.  However, it is the product of a bygone era, and as far as I am aware, never happens anymore. 

I have been practicing for 23 years and have not once held a “reading of the will.” It was a necessity in the days before widespread literacy and the availability of photocopies, but now we can simply mail (or email) a copy of the will to the beneficiaries.  These days, for many decedents the will is not even the primary dispositive instrument – it’s a living trust.  One never hears about a “reading of the trust.”

So, while scenes of the stuffy old lawyer reading the will can be dramatic or comedic, they are certainly not an accurate representation of practice over the last few decades.

Repeated postponements, a shortage of equipment and a lack of information from the group responsible for doling out the money have undermined research in the crucial first year after the disaster. The lag may make it impossible to fully understand the oil spill’s impact on the Gulf ecosystem, scientists said.

“Oil is a moving target; with every day of passing time, we get further and further from the acute effects of the oil and it becomes harder and harder to trace those effects,” said Ian MacDonald, a biological oceanographer at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

From late last April to mid-July, the blown BP Deepwater Horizon rig spewed 186 million to 227 million gallons of crude into the Gulf, adding up to the world’s largest peacetime oil spill. BP also doused the Gulf with at least 1.8 million gallons of chemicals to disperse the crude.

Last May, in the midst of the disaster, BP promised $500 million for a decade of Gulf research — enough to give the ecosystem unprecedented scrutiny.

Almost immediately, however, Gulf-area politicians — former Gov.

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