I never had a FB-account in my life. Don't make it personal.
would contain everything, every last thing, that's actually trending
They did (still do!) promise the module to show "a list of topics and hashtags that have recently spiked in popularity on Facebook". We read yesterday, that human employees were told to a) suppress topics despite their spiking in popularity; b) inject non-popular topics in an attempt to make them popular. You and I both agree, that the allegations are credible, even if we disagree on how to qualify them.
So, oh no, FB didn't show everything.
Showing "everything" is pointless — there isn't enough time in the day to read about everything happening in that day. But they did promise to show, what "recently spiked in popularity" — the promise, that is now appearing a lie.
Is it a criminal act? No.
False Adverting is a crime. I think, their actions qualify...
Trending shows you a list of topics and hashtags that have recently spiked in popularity on Facebook.
This undeniably implies objectivity. Depending on how (un)charitable you wish to be, it also explicitly promises it... And, because this can (easily) be achieved by a computer-program, a reasonable person could believe, this was actually true.
just whining rightwingers claiming to be victims
Well, they certainly were victims here. The only question remaining is whether this was legal or not.
This implies, there ever was a real need for Big Government in the first place...
There sure were problems, which the government solved, however, (quite) arguably, these solutions introduced worse problems of their own...
Libertarians continue to argue — with show of reason — that government's role ought to be confined to keeping the enemies away without and crime at bay within the borders...
What does it matter? Though lying is not illegal (other than under oath or to a federal employee), a merchant or service-provider lying about his goods and services is committing a crime of false advertising — even if the particular goods/services aren't the main line of his business.
Though TFA talks about a national competition, last year the American team has won the international Math Olympiad. For the first time in 21 years too.
Maybe, Bush's hated ideas of accountability for schools and teachers weren't entirely bad? Neah, can't be...
the curation team routinely suppressed or blacklisted topics
The only accusation I can think of is false advertising. If FB promoted its "trending" module as driven by an objective algorithm, then they may be culpable for these false claims.
Other than that — there is just "no there there". Not from a legal standpoint, anyway...
81.2%, only slightly lower than the all time high of 84.6% right before the dotcom bubble popped.
That 3.4% is huge, actually... The 1-decade drop among people older than 16 (your kid is exempt) is only 3% — and that is troublesome. Note, how proud Obama was of every 0.5% reduction of unemployment. Thanks for the citation.
1978 was due to women entering the workforce in large numbers
Workforce participation by women, actually, declined less in recent years, than that by men. That is, quite indisputably, a sign of decline. Because, contrary to all the talk of "equality", women remain the only sex capable of giving birth — an activity, which takes months and years away from employment. If, despite this, their withdrawal from the labor is slower than that by men, we are in trouble.
the U.S. is lower than nearly all major industrialized nations
None of those "major industrialised nations" canafford to defend themselves from the likes of Russia without our help. Sad but true. Because Socialism sucks — and the more of it there is in a country, the worse off the people.
If corporations returned more of the revenue to the workers
Yeah, sure, blame corporations... Sitting in their corporation buildings, acting all corporationy...
A paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters says five of the Solomon Islands have completely submerged underwater due to man-made climate change
Ok, they know, the islands slowly went under — that is quite observable.
How do they know, it happened "due to man-made climate change"? Tasmania, for example, became an island about 10 years ago — was that due to humanity's activities too? Some shamans of the times, probably, said so... Kodiak islands used to be connected to Alaska (either by land or by ice-fields) recently enough for Kodiak bears to be genetically close to other grizzlies, but long enough ago for them to qualify for being subspecies today. Do we blame humanity inventing fire for that?
There are vast ancient cities underwater. Some of them submerged rapidly due to earthquakes, for others the explanation is not so obvious — but tectonic changes (slow or rapid) are most likely to blame.
As for free to allow imports, I think that depends on your definition. Their infrastructure sucks, corruption is high, and transport risks are huge. You aren't going to be able to import
That means, all imports are expensive in the country — and the books, however much I like them, would not be a special priority.
May as well be lamenting the high prices of Ferraris over there...
Median monthly salary for Uganda is about US$90, so at US$15 that makes up a massive % of their salary
This may mean, the demand for books is too low for a reseller to stay in business. But TFA seems to imply, the demand does exist... That said, TFA is by a journalist, who may simply be ignorant of Economics...
My original point stands — the reported near-triple mark-up is a bonanza for a capitalist. If Uganda is sufficiently free to allow book imports (as well as local printing), the prices ought to come down very quickly. And if they aren't free enough for that, then they have much bigger problems
The next part is that luxury items are at a higher risk of theft as they have a measurable resale value.
Still makes no sense — a stolen book gets resold, which lowers the price... Yes, crime increases the cost of doing business, but not by this much — something else must be afoot...
Once you throw in the high crime rates, the high corruption rates, the terrorist attacks, the porous borders...
Several people have already mentioned shipping container-fulls of books to Uganda as charity — so shipping must be working...
And so does retail, because — according to the write-up — food remains affordable. Unless someone powerful considers most books to be "haram", I don't think those problems you describe explain such a giant mark-up for literature in particular...
You should ask the ISPs who didn't do it before this program came into existence.
I'd like to read your opinion — why?
people work together to benefit all of society
How does all of society benefit in this particular example? Do try to stick to arguments, that would not also apply to providing everybody with a nice car and a dishwasher...
Perhaps I can get better deals than my local stores have on products/items that I use. Maybe my employment could be down from home - thus saving me the time/expense of going to/from work. Perhaps I have a security system
This may all be true — no disagreement here. What I do not understand, is why do you feel justified using the money, that government takes from others at gun-point, to help you with these things?
less than $15 on Amazon.com, for instance, is selling in the country for 140,000 Ugandan shillings ($42)
Why is there such a price difference? And why has not a cunny capitalist set up a book (re)selling shop — ordering on Amazon for $15 and selling locally for $16?
Ok, maybe $1 is too optimistic, but $27 seems too much for a free country. And if it is not free, then they have a much bigger problem, than book-prices...
we Want a Government controlled infrastructure of the internet as our current providers are expensive and often have bad habits
You have Government-controlled infrastructure already and that is why it sucks. Government can not get public schools right for decades and continues to mismanage even the high-profile things. You want them to take over the Internet service-provision too?
You are a fool, which would've been fine with me, except you want them to further take over my Internet-access too — not just yours...
Slashdot Mirror
I never had a FB-account in my life. Don't make it personal.
They did (still do!) promise the module to show "a list of topics and hashtags that have recently spiked in popularity on Facebook". We read yesterday, that human employees were told to a) suppress topics despite their spiking in popularity; b) inject non-popular topics in an attempt to make them popular. You and I both agree, that the allegations are credible, even if we disagree on how to qualify them.
Showing "everything" is pointless — there isn't enough time in the day to read about everything happening in that day. But they did promise to show, what "recently spiked in popularity" — the promise, that is now appearing a lie.
False Adverting is a crime. I think, their actions qualify...
In denial much? Right bloody here:
This undeniably implies objectivity. Depending on how (un)charitable you wish to be, it also explicitly promises it... And, because this can (easily) be achieved by a computer-program, a reasonable person could believe, this was actually true.
Well, they certainly were victims here. The only question remaining is whether this was legal or not.
Germany's standard of living is below American already. If they start spending more on defense, it will automatically decline even further.
They can do it, but life will become even more (relatively) unpleasant for them. Because Socialism sucks.
This implies, there ever was a real need for Big Government in the first place...
There sure were problems, which the government solved, however, (quite) arguably, these solutions introduced worse problems of their own...
Libertarians continue to argue — with show of reason — that government's role ought to be confined to keeping the enemies away without and crime at bay within the borders...
What does it matter? Though lying is not illegal (other than under oath or to a federal employee), a merchant or service-provider lying about his goods and services is committing a crime of false advertising — even if the particular goods/services aren't the main line of his business.
Chess (and checkers, even if only 10x10) are generally regarded as sport. Even poker might be...
Brain is part of the body and exerting it more often makes you a good sport... So to speak...
Though TFA talks about a national competition, last year the American team has won the international Math Olympiad. For the first time in 21 years too.
Maybe, Bush's hated ideas of accountability for schools and teachers weren't entirely bad? Neah, can't be...
Though all news-sources profess objectivity, we know, they are run by fallible humans, who are bound to act on their own impulses and agendas.
Facebook, however, implied — or, maybe, even explicitly stated — that its "trending" module is driven by an objective computer-algorithm.
These claims appear false now, which may open them to legal charges of false advertising.
The only accusation I can think of is false advertising. If FB promoted its "trending" module as driven by an objective algorithm, then they may be culpable for these false claims.
Other than that — there is just "no there there". Not from a legal standpoint, anyway...
That 3.4% is huge, actually... The 1-decade drop among people older than 16 (your kid is exempt) is only 3% — and that is troublesome. Note, how proud Obama was of every 0.5% reduction of unemployment. Thanks for the citation.
Workforce participation by women, actually, declined less in recent years, than that by men. That is, quite indisputably, a sign of decline. Because, contrary to all the talk of "equality", women remain the only sex capable of giving birth — an activity, which takes months and years away from employment. If, despite this, their withdrawal from the labor is slower than that by men, we are in trouble.
None of those "major industrialised nations" can afford to defend themselves from the likes of Russia without our help. Sad but true. Because Socialism sucks — and the more of it there is in a country, the worse off the people.
Yeah, sure, blame corporations... Sitting in their corporation buildings, acting all corporationy...
Some official statistics may look decent, but the labor-force participation (a figure not prone to fudging like politically redefined unemployment) is the lowest it has been since 1978.
With over 94 million not even looking for work — and thus not included in the unemployment statistics — we can afford less and less non-necessities.
With the constantly rising food-prices and the incomes of those still working stalling, expect further declines.
Socialism — measured as the part of the GDP spent by government — sucks.
Ok, they know, the islands slowly went under — that is quite observable.
How do they know, it happened "due to man-made climate change"? Tasmania, for example, became an island about 10 years ago — was that due to humanity's activities too? Some shamans of the times, probably, said so... Kodiak islands used to be connected to Alaska (either by land or by ice-fields) recently enough for Kodiak bears to be genetically close to other grizzlies, but long enough ago for them to qualify for being subspecies today. Do we blame humanity inventing fire for that?
There are vast ancient cities underwater. Some of them submerged rapidly due to earthquakes, for others the explanation is not so obvious — but tectonic changes (slow or rapid) are most likely to blame.
What makes us so sure about these 5 islands?
I feel left out and unaccomplished...
That means, all imports are expensive in the country — and the books, however much I like them, would not be a special priority.
May as well be lamenting the high prices of Ferraris over there...
Don't be silly — people mentioned having shipped books to Uganda. It can be done...
This may mean, the demand for books is too low for a reseller to stay in business. But TFA seems to imply, the demand does exist... That said, TFA is by a journalist, who may simply be ignorant of Economics...
My original point stands — the reported near-triple mark-up is a bonanza for a capitalist. If Uganda is sufficiently free to allow book imports (as well as local printing), the prices ought to come down very quickly. And if they aren't free enough for that, then they have much bigger problems
Still makes no sense — a stolen book gets resold, which lowers the price... Yes, crime increases the cost of doing business, but not by this much — something else must be afoot...
Several people have already mentioned shipping container-fulls of books to Uganda as charity — so shipping must be working...
And so does retail, because — according to the write-up — food remains affordable. Unless someone powerful considers most books to be "haram", I don't think those problems you describe explain such a giant mark-up for literature in particular...
I was waiting for this, thank you! Granting AT&T its monopoly was such a staggering success, we certainly ought to keep doing things that way, right?
This is so nice of the government — protecting me from these nasty capitalists.
I wonder, if those among them, who cooperate with the police (and/or donate to the correct politicians), will be granted exceptions...
I'd like to read your opinion — why?
How does all of society benefit in this particular example? Do try to stick to arguments, that would not also apply to providing everybody with a nice car and a dishwasher...
This may all be true — no disagreement here. What I do not understand, is why do you feel justified using the money, that government takes from others at gun-point, to help you with these things?
Why is there such a price difference? And why has not a cunny capitalist set up a book (re)selling shop — ordering on Amazon for $15 and selling locally for $16?
Ok, maybe $1 is too optimistic, but $27 seems too much for a free country. And if it is not free, then they have a much bigger problem, than book-prices...
Come back to me with this argument, when you've provided everybody with their own a) bull horn; b) newspaper; c) radio station; d) TV-channel.
And, if it was not the government's responsibility to provide people with those things when they were the top technology, Internet is not now.
Bullshit. Most of the elderly still do not use it — if they survive without it, then the younger generations certainly can too.
You want it, but you do not need it. And if you feel like you need it — buy it for yourself...
You have Government-controlled infrastructure already and that is why it sucks. Government can not get public schools right for decades and continues to mismanage even the high-profile things. You want them to take over the Internet service-provision too?
You are a fool, which would've been fine with me, except you want them to further take over my Internet-access too — not just yours...