I believe that GP is referring to Zynga shamelessly making blatant copies of other people's games. Then, on top of that, using their already-established base of players to build up a userbase for the new game (e.g. "Molly's building a new burlesque house in WhoreVille and needs 5 silk stockings! Go play our new game Sweat Shop Hero to make some stockings for her!")
You are a "potential customer" until you sign up. Just like you use "potential" in your next (stupid, wrong) statement:
The word consumer encompasses all current and potential customers.
You can't call someone a "consumer" if they aren't consuming anything. To claim that you can call everyone a consumer because they are all potential consumers makes about as much sense as saying that it's ok to call everyone rapists because they are all potential rapists.
it's only a matter of time before the big players are the ones writing those regulations
Oh, good, a slippery slope argument.
How about we just remind you that we're already at the bottom of the slope, with the "big players" writing all the rules because there are no regulations?
Ctrl-+ works fine for increasing the font size for me in Firefox. I can only image that it also works fine in Opera and IE. Dunno what all the whining is about.
Yeah, because all those union workers are the reason Americans can't compete with foreign laborers making a few bucks a day.
And, in response to your BZZT Wrong!... bullshit. If the toothpaste-tube robot can do things more efficiently, it *will* be invented, because there's no reason *not* to to save money over the long run. In the end, humans can *never* compete with technology for tasks like that, unless you treat them as completely expendable.
As for all those anecdotal factories in China that haven't automated: you left off one word. "Yet." It will happen.
And also, if they're like most, they kept test and homework files on hand to cheat - er- study from, and had fewer members supporting themselves with part- or full-time jobs than the general student population, because mommy and daddy paid all their bills. I like how no frat apologists ever mention *those* things when they brag about their better-than-average GPAs.
Funny how statistics can be twisted around to only show what you want them to show, right?
You need more context than that graph offers to get anything meaningful out of it. All it shows is that household income has increased amongst households where the highest level of education is college or greater. (At least, that's what I assume from the labels). How many of those households are 2-incomes?
A quick search of the Economist's site didn't yield an article with this graph in it. Care to provide a link?
Yeah, look at all of those poor ex-millionaires and billionaires who are all now penniless paupers because the ebil gub'mint took all th'r money away at the behest of the lazy, greedy welfare recipients!
"I don't agree with what these other groups say, so instead of rebutting based on logic, I'm going to call their convictions and motivation into question."
I'm no fan of PETA, but seriously, if you think that the only reason someone would get behind a cause is to feel "holier than thou," I think it speaks more about your *own* convictions than anybody else's.
You're the one that chose to interpret it in a condescending and moralizing way. Others of us didn't let emotions get in the way when making a judgment on the validity of the message.
Seriously? Just about every one of the claims made about features in the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads was, at best, a half-truth, if not an outright lie.
iPad ads are marginally more truthful; they can indeed do most of the things that they claim. I argue that content creation on an iPad is not going to happen though, making that claim pretty much bullshit.
You're confusing 24-bit, 192khz (samples/sec) with 64kbit/sec.
CD audio is 16 bit 44.1khz per channel, if memory serves, which is roughly 88.2 * 16 = 1400kbit/sec.
You're also confusing "lossless" audio with high sample rates. Of course higher sample rates will yield better quality audio, but you don't "lose" data by not sampling more frequently in the same way that you lose data by compressing it in a lossy format. FLAC is a lossless compression codec; a 192khz recording can be compressed using FLAC, or using a lossy format like MP3. The choice of compression algorithm has nothing to do with the original sample rate.
You also can't say "how awful 64k recordings sound, even uncompressed", because you're comparing two completely different things, and nobody records at 64k(...what? hz? bit?) anyway. The one thing you (sort of) got right is that 64kbit audio streams do indeed sound pretty terrible.
Basically, your understanding of audio compression and sampling are utterly wrong.
Every once in a while a Michael Bay movie is JUST what the doctor ordered.
No, they really aren't. I love action movies, I love explosions and loud scenes. Michael Bay movies are insipid pieces of garbage that make me long for the day when "action" meant something like "Last Man Standing." Instead, Bay gives us shaky-cam, close-up, slow-motion, impossible-to-follow "action" where every surface and substance on the planet is somehow explosive, and the characters do stupid, pointless things for no reason other than to give him the chance to have a "cool" chase sequence.
I don't see any credible evidence that an attempt will be made to balance the budget in my lifetime
We had a balanced budget a little over a decade ago. It was only after the "party of fiscal responsibility" took over that spending really spiraled out of control.
In addition to what bunratty said, the other thing to remember is that any global increase at all represents a huge amount of energy injected into an inherently chaotic system. It might only be a tenth of a degree celsius worldwide, but that means that localized areas get much more than that, which directly contributes to things like more severe weather.
Those people 10,000 years ago didn't have trillions of dollars of infrastructure to worry about. They also had the freedom to wander further inland, because the land wasn't already owned by somebody else.
Except "store" has always meant "storage" -- the "general store" was a place where stuff was stored, and sold. Etymology failure on your part.
Here, I'm going to coin a new word: Apple. It means, "Overpriced piece of generic electronics with hideously expensive accessories." I don't care that the word has been in use to describe fruit, a recording company, and a computer manufacturing company; I say I coined a new word.
Slashdot Mirror
I believe that GP is referring to Zynga shamelessly making blatant copies of other people's games. Then, on top of that, using their already-established base of players to build up a userbase for the new game (e.g. "Molly's building a new burlesque house in WhoreVille and needs 5 silk stockings! Go play our new game Sweat Shop Hero to make some stockings for her!")
--Jeremy
Yeah, god forbid anyone should actually *try* to understand the motivations of these suicide bombers.
Best to just sit here with a holier-than-them attitude and call them all evil and pat ourselves on the back about how not-evil we are.
--Jeremy
Pointing out one exceptional, contrary case isn't really the best way to "prove" someone is wrong.
--Jeremy
You are a "potential customer" until you sign up. Just like you use "potential" in your next (stupid, wrong) statement:
You can't call someone a "consumer" if they aren't consuming anything. To claim that you can call everyone a consumer because they are all potential consumers makes about as much sense as saying that it's ok to call everyone rapists because they are all potential rapists.
--Jeremy
So you're ok with them essentially advertising a meaningless number?
I really don't understand market-speak apologists. All we're asking for is some honesty; why is that such a big deal?
--Jeremy
Oh, good, a slippery slope argument.
How about we just remind you that we're already at the bottom of the slope, with the "big players" writing all the rules because there are no regulations?
--Jeremy
Ctrl-+ works fine for increasing the font size for me in Firefox. I can only image that it also works fine in Opera and IE. Dunno what all the whining is about.
--Jeremy
No it didn't. Technology did that.
--Jeremy
Yeah, because all those union workers are the reason Americans can't compete with foreign laborers making a few bucks a day.
And, in response to your BZZT Wrong! ... bullshit. If the toothpaste-tube robot can do things more efficiently, it *will* be invented, because there's no reason *not* to to save money over the long run. In the end, humans can *never* compete with technology for tasks like that, unless you treat them as completely expendable.
As for all those anecdotal factories in China that haven't automated: you left off one word. "Yet." It will happen.
--Jeremy
And also, if they're like most, they kept test and homework files on hand to cheat - er- study from, and had fewer members supporting themselves with part- or full-time jobs than the general student population, because mommy and daddy paid all their bills. I like how no frat apologists ever mention *those* things when they brag about their better-than-average GPAs.
Funny how statistics can be twisted around to only show what you want them to show, right?
--Jeremy
You need more context than that graph offers to get anything meaningful out of it. All it shows is that household income has increased amongst households where the highest level of education is college or greater. (At least, that's what I assume from the labels). How many of those households are 2-incomes?
A quick search of the Economist's site didn't yield an article with this graph in it. Care to provide a link?
--Jeremy
Yeah, look at all of those poor ex-millionaires and billionaires who are all now penniless paupers because the ebil gub'mint took all th'r money away at the behest of the lazy, greedy welfare recipients!
--Jeremy
Translated:
"I don't agree with what these other groups say, so instead of rebutting based on logic, I'm going to call their convictions and motivation into question."
I'm no fan of PETA, but seriously, if you think that the only reason someone would get behind a cause is to feel "holier than thou," I think it speaks more about your *own* convictions than anybody else's.
Besides, some people just do it for the chicks.
--Jeremy
You're the one that chose to interpret it in a condescending and moralizing way. Others of us didn't let emotions get in the way when making a judgment on the validity of the message.
--Jeremy
How on Earth do you get from the topic at hand to government or "technology nanny state"? Paranoid much?
--Jeremy
Seriously? Just about every one of the claims made about features in the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads was, at best, a half-truth, if not an outright lie.
iPad ads are marginally more truthful; they can indeed do most of the things that they claim. I argue that content creation on an iPad is not going to happen though, making that claim pretty much bullshit.
--Jeremy
You're confusing 24-bit, 192khz (samples/sec) with 64kbit/sec.
CD audio is 16 bit 44.1khz per channel, if memory serves, which is roughly 88.2 * 16 = 1400kbit/sec.
You're also confusing "lossless" audio with high sample rates. Of course higher sample rates will yield better quality audio, but you don't "lose" data by not sampling more frequently in the same way that you lose data by compressing it in a lossy format. FLAC is a lossless compression codec; a 192khz recording can be compressed using FLAC, or using a lossy format like MP3. The choice of compression algorithm has nothing to do with the original sample rate.
You also can't say "how awful 64k recordings sound, even uncompressed", because you're comparing two completely different things, and nobody records at 64k(...what? hz? bit?) anyway. The one thing you (sort of) got right is that 64kbit audio streams do indeed sound pretty terrible.
Basically, your understanding of audio compression and sampling are utterly wrong.
--Jeremy
No, they really aren't. I love action movies, I love explosions and loud scenes. Michael Bay movies are insipid pieces of garbage that make me long for the day when "action" meant something like "Last Man Standing." Instead, Bay gives us shaky-cam, close-up, slow-motion, impossible-to-follow "action" where every surface and substance on the planet is somehow explosive, and the characters do stupid, pointless things for no reason other than to give him the chance to have a "cool" chase sequence.
--Jeremy
No, the morons are the ones who equate this stupid argument with "paying taxes gets us useful stuff."
--Jeremy
We had a balanced budget a little over a decade ago. It was only after the "party of fiscal responsibility" took over that spending really spiraled out of control.
--Jeremy
In addition to what bunratty said, the other thing to remember is that any global increase at all represents a huge amount of energy injected into an inherently chaotic system. It might only be a tenth of a degree celsius worldwide, but that means that localized areas get much more than that, which directly contributes to things like more severe weather.
--Jeremy
Those people 10,000 years ago didn't have trillions of dollars of infrastructure to worry about. They also had the freedom to wander further inland, because the land wasn't already owned by somebody else.
Care to ask any more irrelevant questions?
--Jeremy
First, you keep moving the goalposts. Stick to one argument; it at least gives you *some* credibility.
Applies to government investigations. This guy was not a government agent.
--Jeremy
Terrible example. Everyone hates Joe Lieberman.
Anyway, no, the election process was not subverted. And I don't like paying taxes to house and feed non-violent criminals.
--Jeremy
Except "store" has always meant "storage" -- the "general store" was a place where stuff was stored, and sold. Etymology failure on your part.
Here, I'm going to coin a new word: Apple. It means, "Overpriced piece of generic electronics with hideously expensive accessories." I don't care that the word has been in use to describe fruit, a recording company, and a computer manufacturing company; I say I coined a new word.
--Jeremy