It's ultraviolet. Most devices can play it. The only one that can't is AppleTV because they won't play ball. I have six devices in front of me that play UV. If anyone expected an unencrypted download file they are completely retarded, because no one sells video content like that. Stop thinking about music. My guess is you have never purchased a digital copy of a video so you are simply ignorant to the fact that what you are asking for doesn't exist.
They used Flixter because it was the only place willing/able to do it worldwide day/date same. So no one could not get their copy, is that they couldn't get it through their preferred method. Most of the people crying are just pissed it's not on iTunes, which is actually Apples fault for not playing nice with ultraviolet. And, btw, the code just needed to be registered at Flixter, you did not have to use Flixter, that's the whole point of ultraviolet - unless you choose only the walled gardens of Apple to view your media, everyone else can watch it fine. I have six devices in front of me that play UV content, and the only ones that don't are AppleTV (the majority of the complainers).
I'm really pissed that a small group of whiny folks are being such asshats and making much ado about nothing marring what is really a remarkable and awesome thing, top to bottom. They are a bunch of idiots who don't know how to use the code so they scream, or they know better but prefer iTunes and are crying. It's pathetic. They delivered what they promised, they didn't say your digital copy would be served like it was Burger King "anyway you want it" and the people making a stink should be ashamed of themselves.
"Brains process patterns. Proximity (specially multi-sensorial) is a pattern, much more fullfilling than online experiences..."
I wouldn't be so sure about assigning fulfillment levels there. Recent studies have shown that folks get the same "brain happy" from regularly watching the same TV shows with familiar characters as they do from spending time with friends in real life. Us assigning greater benefit to doing so with real people as opposed to television characters is purely a societal imposition, not inherent in our brain chemistry.
That said, because such a large potion of folks use Facebook, anyone who tries to peg it a certain way or interpret it to present one point of view to "understand" simply is grasping at straws. Facebook is a platform, used in many different ways. It's like generalizing people who "go to the shopping mall". Businesses use it to advertise. People use it for social mini blogging. To a large number, it's simply the 21st century equivalent of what people used to keep address books for. If you want to stay in contact with someone, it's far easier to find them on Facebook than share other (often transient) information like cell phone numbers, addresses, even emails. It's also a way to control access - if you use the tools FB gives you to do so.
I don't go on Facebook every day, or even every week sometimes. But I know how to find the people in my life, many of whom - particularly from high school, college, and former workplaces - I likely would have never known how to contact again when I was thinking of them and wanted to say hello. Or ask a question. Or any number of things that people reach out for. It's not the medium, it's the capability to have a master list of everyone you know (or care to keep connected with). That's it's staying power - and other little services come and go, but it's doubtful any other single entity will be able to hit the right time like FB did and capture this kind of audience again.
Wow, nice try to mask the "be a vegetarian" propaganda (starting with the "gee meat is pretty expensive..." and then down to the soft sell "50%" reduction before you really get to the "but it's really best to not eat meat at all". I see what you did there, doing some multiplying and coming up with huge numbers to sound shocking but at the same time being completely reductive to the complexities - as stated, a lb of beef is worth a lot more to the economy than a lb of watercress.
Truth is, drought is an expected symptom of humans tapping the resources of a place that is inhospitable to the way which we demand to live. Southern California lawns were not meant to look like lush New England summers year-round. It's also cheaper in many ways to raise cattle there, which is why folks do it there as opposed to other places (though there is great cattle outside of CA, this piece only focuses on CA). They could go places with cheaper or free and plentiful water but pay more for everything else.
We've sure got plenty of water here on the other coast. Hell many of us have pumps in our basements pushing it out as fast as we can pump it during some seasons, pumping it out into the back yard for free if anyone wanted to take it. But I can't complain - if it bothered me that much, I could just move to CA.
I've been ready to split to a MVNO for my two phones, both out of contract and no need to upgrade anytime soon. Even went through unlocking process with ATT. I was getting ready to do it last month but life happened, but I was able to get the website to take my $120 service (unlimited minutes, texts, 1GB data) down to $90. It was the same plan - and irritated me that it didn't just automatically move me. Then I log in today, and they actually have applied another discount without my intervention - now my monthly service is $65. They also seem to be applying my company discount differently - before it used to only be on the phone plan portion of the bill, now it seems to be applying over my entire bill which is bringing it down that low. It's saving me about 7-8 extra bucks calculated this way.
So over two billing cycles my phone bill has dropped by nearly half. And all I did was click a different plan the first month, and this month I didn't do anything at all. Coincidentally, $65 was the price I was finding for the other services I had explored as alternatives. So, I've never had a problem with service (except on a visit to LA once, it was awful - maybe the smog? Lol) and I've gotten the price I was going to get without the hassle of changing anything. I'm going to keep a very close eye on my bill to make sure it doesn't creep up again, but I'm a happy camper all of a sudden.
It hasn't crashed yet because the current BitBelievers are buying up the stock folks are selling off, thinking they are getting "fire sale" prices. So it's the same people who are already in that are presumably spending all the legal tender they can muster to buy more to hoard away. One of them described it to me on this board as him "putting my money where my mouth is". I think he may have been almost right, he just didn't follow through the entire statement where he then places the money in his mouth, chews on it, swallows it, digests it, and then deposits it in a toilet somewhere before flushing it away.
The only reason is has not tanked yet is because the BitBelievers who didn't jump ship already are buying up all the BitCoins being sold by the smarter folks getting out, because they believe they are getting a deal. What's happening, though, is that he pool of folks buying in new has dried up, and not that anyone sane bought into this to begin with, but now one would have to be especially batshit crazy to come in now. So they are just selling to themselves which cannot maintain the pyramid needed to make BitCoins "worth" anything.
Essentially, BitCoin is only valuable when people are willing to purchase it with legit currency, which is what enables people to "spend" their BitCoins (BitCoin ATM's, etc). Without that legal tender coming into the system (and presumably at some point even the existing BitBelievers won't have any more cash to dump in), when people are sitting on a pile of virtual coins that cannot be exchanged for legit currency anymore they become worthless. So you will have all these guys sitting on these virtual coins, and since all BitCoins are equal there is no sense in trading one for another, and with no one willing to give them legal currency anymore in exchange for them, it's over.
I've seen some of these deluded folks posting here, how they are "putting their money where their mouth is" and still calling it a "currency" when it's no more a currency than any collectable product. Only in this case, since the collectables are all identical, it's strictly a game of how much someone is willing to pay for one in real currency. At least when the bottom fell out of the comic book market, you could still read them LOL, even if they no longer were "worth" anything.
I've said it before, but it's astounding how supposedly educated folks are the main audience here, and the only thing they can say in defense of it is to try and poke holes in legally recognized currency. Usually the ones taken in my scams are the elderly or infirm, but here it's folks that obviously have disposable income who are fooling themselves into thinking they are somehow doing some anarchy-inducing "brave new world" type thing, when they really are just buying into an age old get-rich-quick pyramid scheme with a novel twist. I wonder how many of them actually believe what they say, versus how many of them as just the equivalent of a religious gambling addict who is so sure the big win is ahead if they just keep believing.
No, both have been repeatedly used as examples of why we should trust BitCoin as a currency because "look what happened there!" I'm sure you are correct, completely different, which is precisely my point.
Agreed. This cannot be true. Before humans came and fucked up the world nothing bad ever happened in nature, everything was in perfect alignment and all species thrived and there were no extreme weather cycles. The only way this could be true is if time travel to the past eventually got discovered in the future and we went back with all our evil human things and did this.
I think they should get out some metal detectors and start searching for DeLoreans.
You miss the point on so many levels, but when you are chin deep into it, it's no wonder you cling.
You stated it yourself but you don't understand how currency works. Currency is based on confidence. It doesn't matter if MtGox has been the "go to" place or not among the believers. And now, as you said, as of Monday, it's the only exchange anyone really can name who isn't chin deep like you. And you need some of those people to keep bringing legal tender into the BitCoin system to keep it operating. That's why it is a pyramid scheme.
BitCoin is worthless in the real world, because you need the ability to turn it into legal tender to use it. Now, before you try to correct me, yes, a few coffee shops and online retailers will take it directly, but only because THEY can then turn it into real world currency. Overstock.com can't pay their employees, buy product from suppliers, or pay for the electricity to run it's business with BitCoin. They take it from you and then turn it into real currency mostly as a gimmick to draw folks with obviously disposable income to their site. That's why it's a novelty.
You also hit on the very point I was making, which is sure - those of you who have already bought in keep "putting your money where your mouth is", but after this - no one who isn't already in is going to keep funneling real currency in so you can use your BitCoin ATM to withdraw cash. They only reason it hasn't fallen completely yet is because you folks are buying up from all the folks selling out, temporarily halting the decline. Once you folks run out of money to turn into BitCoin, or come to your senses, it will be worthless. Without new legal tender coming into the system, BitCoin literally worthless, because on its own it's just a virtual game with no intrinsic value unless folks are willing to trade real currency for it.
Exactly. I'm sorry, I'm not Mr. I Love and Completely Trust The Government, but reading what some of these folks say is just astounding. The level of fear and suspect is simply irrational. Now, when I say that, they will say I am a sheep or naive or what have you - but as you said, the dollar survived the last crisis, it survived previous issues, and even though it's not as absolutely strong as it once was, it's still the most a secure currency in the civilized world.
I don't know what makes these folks so scared, and the only defense they can give about BitCoin when confronted with it's obvious flaws as a "currency", pointing out the ways in which it is simply an investment scheme, is to try to say "yeah but the dollar is just as bad!" when clearly, it is not. Or they quote you Iceland or Cypress and ignore that the USD is far different than the currency in those places. Desperate attempts at deflection are the only "ammo" they have to retort with because, frankly,I do nt think most of them actually understand it for what it is - a pyramid scheme with a novel twist.
While nothing is 100% certain, I know I would feel a hell of a lot more secure with $100,000 in cash in a fireproof safe, or even at a bank, than I would with the same amount in BitCoins sitting in an exchange or even in "cold storage" that's based on untested (and obviously flawed) protocols and trust in a completely unregulated private company in another country (or even our own). It's not even comparable. The value of BitCoin is really based in what someone is willing to pay you in legal tender in exchange for it, otherwise it's worthless. That's the pyramid part - it depends on new folks coming in and willing to buy your existing stock with legal tender which can then be used for goods and services. Without people actively buying into it with real currency, it's utterly useless and has no value.
BitCoin is the result of a lot of supposedly educated folks who are disillusioned with the government and, dare I say, mostly seem to be in their 20's and products of upper income homes who grew up in the 90's during all the "you deserve it!" entitlement trend in child rearing. I'm a product of the 80's, when we were all told we were "special" - but we were also told that we had to work for it and not to expect a free ride. The popularity of BitCoin among these folks is due to the "get rich quick" aspect that they always felt they deserved and believed they had finally found their golden ticket.
Ugh, you know you are getting older when you start to so clearly see the generational differences - every generation has it's quirks, and BitCoin is the manifestation of young smart folks with too much disposable income who think they are smarter than they actually are, and those that haven't taken their winnings and run yet are in for a very, very rude awakening when this all completely collapses and their money is gone.
But what you are missing is that to the masses out there that BitCoin needs to keep buying into the base of the pyramid to make current Bitcoins worth anything in the real world, MtGox is the onky exchange they have ever heard of, and first impressions may not be everything but they sure count for a lot. You guys who buy into this are missing the overall point - BitCoin has had more mainstream press over this than every before and it's all negative, terrible news. Most folks aren't going to get involved enough to see if your statements are correct - the bad kid in school has misbehaved, and that's the one that will be remembered.
Without folks continually pumping real legal tender into the BitCoin system it's worthless. The only reason it didn't drop totally yet is that the believers are buying up what people are selling who are getting out. Thinking they are going to pick them up now before they rise again. The truth is, it's not going to rise again because the only folks who are going to get involved now are the ones who are already in the thick of it - and without new blood bringing real legal tender to the table, it can only last so long with the already-in folks trading amongst themselves.
Precisely. And now those folks are scared shitless to even think about it. That's what the "everything is gonna be okay, folks!" wishful thinkers are missing here. It doesn't matter if it's rational or not - who the hell ever said investing/gambling was rational. Regardless of anything else, this was a big huge warning to those masses that told them to stay as far away from BitCoin as possible.
That's why this is the beginning of the end - some folks who have been mildly curious, or who haven't even really hard of or understood BitCoin, are being introduced by this - BitCoin has never had such constant mainstream press before. They aren't going to touch it with a ten-foot pole now. And the only way for the pyramid to keep working is if more and more people start buying into the base, and that just isn't going to happen at this point. So while the initiated will keep trading back and forth for awhile, and some of them will finance those who are jumping ship by buying up coins as they are down in price, this doesn't end well because without new investors buying into the pyramid to keep real legal tender flowing in, BitCoin will soon be worthless as no one will be willing to buy the pretend "currency" to make it actually worth anything in the real world.
I'd show them Back To The Future II - especially appropriate since the future they are visiting is 2015. As our world resembles 1985+smartphones more than the 2015 depicted in the film, it could help temper expectations and demonstrate that no matter what predictions one makes, (and let's face it, nothing in BTTF2 aside from flying cars was really that crazy to believe we would have in 25 years), the only thing certain is uncertainty. Obviously it's a fictional film and was not serious futurist prediction, but it would make the point and give something a little lighter to engage the students.
And the desire of anyone with the ability or funds to do it to go to space regularly enough to need it. When I think back to being a kid and how space felt like the future, it makes me sad that typically it seems like no one besides researchers gives a shit anymore. I used to watch Star Trek and knew it wouldn't happen in my lifetime but it felt like that was the eventual goal and the direction we were heading in. Now I see it as the fantasy it is, because without some compelling financial gain in taking trips up there for anything besides tourism for the super-rich, I think we are going to stay stuck on this rock.
In any case, this game is rated "M" - anything goes.
Technically, none of this (even the MPAA) is censorship to begin with, because none of these entities are government related (at least in the U.S.) - the reason the studios have their films rated by the MPAA is because of commercial considerations (many theaters refuse to show unrated or even NC-17 films), same as the ESRB (the latter being so inconsequential that no chain or store I know of refuses to stock M-rated titles, in their case it's to appease parents), not because of regulation.
When they make a kid show an ID to buy an M-rated game, or enter an R-rated film, it's also not governmental requirements, except in rare cases where local laws have been enacted to piggy-back on them. None of those local entities would have had the power to do anything about it aside bar children from entering theaters without an adult totally or only sell any games period to legal adults if the MPAA or ESRB didn't voluntarily exist and provide ratings guidelines for them to make local laws about.
Both were created due to "scares" of government regulation, but the witch hunts on both fronts long ago died and the responsibility is on the parents, where it should have been to begin with. It never would have happened in either case, but the industry pretended to be scared so they could "enforce" the regulations by proxy on the creative talents involved without looking like the bad guys ("Hey, it's not our fault - it's the MPAA's!" when really they didn't want content to prevent a film from being as commercially successful as possible) and to appease parent groups.
Considering the following is in the US version (per the article cited above), I don't think any "censorship" has gone on - nor do I think any changes were made at the behest of the game ratings board:
A mini-game in which the doctor is performing an abortion on the player.
A mini-game in which the player is performing an abortion on the character Randy.
Five anal probing scenes involving someone actively being probed.
It has pretended to be an "alternative currency" when in fact, it just was an investment scheme based on theoretical nothingness.
Otherwise educated folks bit on it as a "get rich quick" scheme hook, line, and BitCoin - because a bunch of techno-babble and theory that sounded like smart folks knew what they were talking about lured them in, coupled with the "The Man" view of the government held by (mostly) young and inexperienced people who think the sky is going to fall at any moment.
What the parent of these replies is still buying into is that the "eco-system" will somehow survive and balance this out, when the only thing BitCoin had going for it was the confidence (or wishful thinking) of the folks who bought into it had. That has now been shattered. The "eco-system" has been exposed - and it's not what was sold by all the fancy talk about open-transactions and how secure it was - in theory.
When they say "...will have to be very careful about where they hold their money" he is precisely correct - but he still misses that his money is in someone elses pocket who is higher up on the pyramid - it doesn't matter how "secure" you think encryption makes your BitCoins as the bottom is falling out of it as we type. I can lock up $1000 in cash in a fireproof, buried safe - and while the value of what that $1000 can buy me over time will depreciate, it's not going to suddenly turn into a stack of 1000 pennies.
I'm sure you can find the article if you look for it - I can't recall where it was at the moment - but this has all been known for many months and the publishers explained it at length. It's not "censorship", it's localization. Particularly when a private company is doing it on a consumer product.
The article went into each country and why they did it. And the graphic nature of the game was shocking even to me, who watches Game of Thrones and True Blood, LOL. Like, mini-games where you control a South Park child and your goal is to graphically perform an abortion on a woman by plucking out fetuses.
Sure, I've preordered it, haha - but I can certainly see why bits here and there were edited - it's a commercial decision, not a moral one.
I've had it before - but as you said yourself - you currently have "good benefits, lots of vacation time, very good salary" - not many folks can say that, particularly the last part.
If you were totally miserable, that would be one thing, but since you are clearly not and are just irritated with the way most companies end up working (that small start-up, if successful, will very likely turn into the same thing eventually), the best idea for personal fulfillment is to find a hobby, find some volunteer work where you think you can make a difference, find other things in life that fulfill you - which is good advice anyway, too many people look for their life meaning in how they generate income when the point of generating income is to be able to enjoy your life.
Since you aren't miserable, just frustrated, you don't want to take the chance that in a year your start-up goes belly up, when you've worked 52 weeks straight, had to scrimp and save money because your 'very good' salary is gone, and you look back and realize just how good you have it right now.
Normally I wouldn't be so blunt, but you did ask for advice - LOL - and that's the best I think anyone can give you who isn't living in the clouds or just blowing idealistic smoke up your ass because they don't know you as you are some random guy on the Internet they will never hear about again either way.
Instead of lecturing folks on the off-topic of volunteering, you might want to take a moment to grasp the point at hand.
You say that money is a bad idea, "think for yourself and not an authority think for you" - I have to presume by your idiocy combined with "screw the man" attitude that you are a high school or young college student who someone else (likely parents) take care of.
Since you do not understand the term bartering, I'll explain it: it means you give something to someone else that they want to exchange for something you want. Since your world doesn't have money, it was a valid question - because, presumably, someone has paid for the device you are typing on, the Internet connection you are using to blather your nonsense, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the roof you live under.
So, you were asked, since you eschew money as a bad idea, if you barter for everything - because otherwise, you are homeless and not eating, unless you are taking charity or stealing, or unless, as I originally surmised, mommy and/or daddy take care of it for you.
So those of us who live in the real world and earn our money to pay for our upkeep can't just decide to "not let authority think for us" and say money is meaningless/isn't needed, because we are smart enough to know that unless you are getting a free ride, it's absolutelyfucking necessary.
So go do your seven hours of volunteer work and pat yourself on the back, just don't forget to thank profusely whomever is paying for your upkeep/survival to enable you to be such an arrogant brat. If you don't thank them, you may find yourself with the need to acquaint yourself with money rather quickly, which considering your attitude makes me think it wouldn't be very pretty for you.
Just because it's cable does not mean it's high speed. You are talking about souped-up dial-up. You might be able to stream a low-quality audio file at that speed, at best. If all you do is basic web browsing, I'm sure that would suffice. But most of us need a somewhat higher speed.
On the other hand, the constant paranoia makes people sound as if we are living in a society where people just disapear off the streets and no one asks questions because they are afraid they will be next to be abducted and never heard from again. They act like the US is some police state or that we are in constant danger. I don't commit crimes, I don't associate with known criminals, I pay my taxes, and I drive safely. And you know what? The authorities and government leave me alone. Yes, we need to guard our privacy, the NSA thing (while slightly overblown, most people think that they actually have recordings of all the calls as opposed to just records of them because of all the hype), and hold them accountable, but this laughable notion that the "gubment is out to get all of us" just takes away from the real issues and is the same reason those scared folks in the Bible Belt stock up on 100's of weapons for when they "come to get 'em". Folks watch too many movies.
Could stuff happen? Sure. The sun could also have some heretofore unknown random chemical reaction and explode instantly killing us all. But people act so paranoid that they detract from the actual atrocities that go on - being one of the only first-world countries where getting cancer can make you go bankrupt, that we rank in the double digits for things like education, and the dangers of all the chemicals we ingest, breathe, clean, and live with being absorbed into every pore that we really know nothing about the long term effects of are. But oh yeah, be scared that Obama is gonna send some henchmen to rip you out of your house in the middle of the night and block your phone off and your family will never see or hear from you again. Because that happens every day, right?
Cute. Who the hell gets high speed Internet for $20/mo? Most of us are stuck with cable, which costs far more than that. Even though I don't live in the sticks, DSL is not an option available to me because I'm between two stations. And even where DSL is an option, it's speed is unreliable and not great to begin with. So I have two choices - Time Warner, or EarthLink - which just resells...Time Warner.
The problem is the cable companies being in control of the majority of the broadband services in the country. They want to keep up the status quo and everyone in the dark ages as long as possible. The entire industry is anti-competitive to begin with, we should have a slew of cable providers to choose from, but we don't because they grease so many palms in Washington. They get to be anti-competitive like a utility (I can't change water or sewer companies, either) but don't have the same restrictions and other controls to keep them from overcharging for their services.
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It's ultraviolet. Most devices can play it. The only one that can't is AppleTV because they won't play ball. I have six devices in front of me that play UV. If anyone expected an unencrypted download file they are completely retarded, because no one sells video content like that. Stop thinking about music. My guess is you have never purchased a digital copy of a video so you are simply ignorant to the fact that what you are asking for doesn't exist.
They used Flixter because it was the only place willing/able to do it worldwide day/date same. So no one could not get their copy, is that they couldn't get it through their preferred method. Most of the people crying are just pissed it's not on iTunes, which is actually Apples fault for not playing nice with ultraviolet. And, btw, the code just needed to be registered at Flixter, you did not have to use Flixter, that's the whole point of ultraviolet - unless you choose only the walled gardens of Apple to view your media, everyone else can watch it fine. I have six devices in front of me that play UV content, and the only ones that don't are AppleTV (the majority of the complainers).
I'm really pissed that a small group of whiny folks are being such asshats and making much ado about nothing marring what is really a remarkable and awesome thing, top to bottom. They are a bunch of idiots who don't know how to use the code so they scream, or they know better but prefer iTunes and are crying. It's pathetic. They delivered what they promised, they didn't say your digital copy would be served like it was Burger King "anyway you want it" and the people making a stink should be ashamed of themselves.
"Brains process patterns. Proximity (specially multi-sensorial) is a pattern, much more fullfilling than online experiences..."
I wouldn't be so sure about assigning fulfillment levels there. Recent studies have shown that folks get the same "brain happy" from regularly watching the same TV shows with familiar characters as they do from spending time with friends in real life. Us assigning greater benefit to doing so with real people as opposed to television characters is purely a societal imposition, not inherent in our brain chemistry.
That said, because such a large potion of folks use Facebook, anyone who tries to peg it a certain way or interpret it to present one point of view to "understand" simply is grasping at straws. Facebook is a platform, used in many different ways. It's like generalizing people who "go to the shopping mall". Businesses use it to advertise. People use it for social mini blogging. To a large number, it's simply the 21st century equivalent of what people used to keep address books for. If you want to stay in contact with someone, it's far easier to find them on Facebook than share other (often transient) information like cell phone numbers, addresses, even emails. It's also a way to control access - if you use the tools FB gives you to do so.
I don't go on Facebook every day, or even every week sometimes. But I know how to find the people in my life, many of whom - particularly from high school, college, and former workplaces - I likely would have never known how to contact again when I was thinking of them and wanted to say hello. Or ask a question. Or any number of things that people reach out for. It's not the medium, it's the capability to have a master list of everyone you know (or care to keep connected with). That's it's staying power - and other little services come and go, but it's doubtful any other single entity will be able to hit the right time like FB did and capture this kind of audience again.
Wow, nice try to mask the "be a vegetarian" propaganda (starting with the "gee meat is pretty expensive..." and then down to the soft sell "50%" reduction before you really get to the "but it's really best to not eat meat at all". I see what you did there, doing some multiplying and coming up with huge numbers to sound shocking but at the same time being completely reductive to the complexities - as stated, a lb of beef is worth a lot more to the economy than a lb of watercress.
Truth is, drought is an expected symptom of humans tapping the resources of a place that is inhospitable to the way which we demand to live. Southern California lawns were not meant to look like lush New England summers year-round. It's also cheaper in many ways to raise cattle there, which is why folks do it there as opposed to other places (though there is great cattle outside of CA, this piece only focuses on CA). They could go places with cheaper or free and plentiful water but pay more for everything else.
We've sure got plenty of water here on the other coast. Hell many of us have pumps in our basements pushing it out as fast as we can pump it during some seasons, pumping it out into the back yard for free if anyone wanted to take it. But I can't complain - if it bothered me that much, I could just move to CA.
I've been ready to split to a MVNO for my two phones, both out of contract and no need to upgrade anytime soon. Even went through unlocking process with ATT. I was getting ready to do it last month but life happened, but I was able to get the website to take my $120 service (unlimited minutes, texts, 1GB data) down to $90. It was the same plan - and irritated me that it didn't just automatically move me. Then I log in today, and they actually have applied another discount without my intervention - now my monthly service is $65. They also seem to be applying my company discount differently - before it used to only be on the phone plan portion of the bill, now it seems to be applying over my entire bill which is bringing it down that low. It's saving me about 7-8 extra bucks calculated this way.
So over two billing cycles my phone bill has dropped by nearly half. And all I did was click a different plan the first month, and this month I didn't do anything at all. Coincidentally, $65 was the price I was finding for the other services I had explored as alternatives. So, I've never had a problem with service (except on a visit to LA once, it was awful - maybe the smog? Lol) and I've gotten the price I was going to get without the hassle of changing anything. I'm going to keep a very close eye on my bill to make sure it doesn't creep up again, but I'm a happy camper all of a sudden.
It hasn't crashed yet because the current BitBelievers are buying up the stock folks are selling off, thinking they are getting "fire sale" prices. So it's the same people who are already in that are presumably spending all the legal tender they can muster to buy more to hoard away. One of them described it to me on this board as him "putting my money where my mouth is". I think he may have been almost right, he just didn't follow through the entire statement where he then places the money in his mouth, chews on it, swallows it, digests it, and then deposits it in a toilet somewhere before flushing it away.
The only reason is has not tanked yet is because the BitBelievers who didn't jump ship already are buying up all the BitCoins being sold by the smarter folks getting out, because they believe they are getting a deal. What's happening, though, is that he pool of folks buying in new has dried up, and not that anyone sane bought into this to begin with, but now one would have to be especially batshit crazy to come in now. So they are just selling to themselves which cannot maintain the pyramid needed to make BitCoins "worth" anything.
Essentially, BitCoin is only valuable when people are willing to purchase it with legit currency, which is what enables people to "spend" their BitCoins (BitCoin ATM's, etc). Without that legal tender coming into the system (and presumably at some point even the existing BitBelievers won't have any more cash to dump in), when people are sitting on a pile of virtual coins that cannot be exchanged for legit currency anymore they become worthless. So you will have all these guys sitting on these virtual coins, and since all BitCoins are equal there is no sense in trading one for another, and with no one willing to give them legal currency anymore in exchange for them, it's over.
I've seen some of these deluded folks posting here, how they are "putting their money where their mouth is" and still calling it a "currency" when it's no more a currency than any collectable product. Only in this case, since the collectables are all identical, it's strictly a game of how much someone is willing to pay for one in real currency. At least when the bottom fell out of the comic book market, you could still read them LOL, even if they no longer were "worth" anything.
I've said it before, but it's astounding how supposedly educated folks are the main audience here, and the only thing they can say in defense of it is to try and poke holes in legally recognized currency. Usually the ones taken in my scams are the elderly or infirm, but here it's folks that obviously have disposable income who are fooling themselves into thinking they are somehow doing some anarchy-inducing "brave new world" type thing, when they really are just buying into an age old get-rich-quick pyramid scheme with a novel twist. I wonder how many of them actually believe what they say, versus how many of them as just the equivalent of a religious gambling addict who is so sure the big win is ahead if they just keep believing.
No, both have been repeatedly used as examples of why we should trust BitCoin as a currency because "look what happened there!" I'm sure you are correct, completely different, which is precisely my point.
By your definition, comic books are currency.
Thus you have proven my point.
Agreed. This cannot be true. Before humans came and fucked up the world nothing bad ever happened in nature, everything was in perfect alignment and all species thrived and there were no extreme weather cycles. The only way this could be true is if time travel to the past eventually got discovered in the future and we went back with all our evil human things and did this.
I think they should get out some metal detectors and start searching for DeLoreans.
You miss the point on so many levels, but when you are chin deep into it, it's no wonder you cling.
You stated it yourself but you don't understand how currency works. Currency is based on confidence. It doesn't matter if MtGox has been the "go to" place or not among the believers. And now, as you said, as of Monday, it's the only exchange anyone really can name who isn't chin deep like you. And you need some of those people to keep bringing legal tender into the BitCoin system to keep it operating. That's why it is a pyramid scheme.
BitCoin is worthless in the real world, because you need the ability to turn it into legal tender to use it. Now, before you try to correct me, yes, a few coffee shops and online retailers will take it directly, but only because THEY can then turn it into real world currency. Overstock.com can't pay their employees, buy product from suppliers, or pay for the electricity to run it's business with BitCoin. They take it from you and then turn it into real currency mostly as a gimmick to draw folks with obviously disposable income to their site. That's why it's a novelty.
You also hit on the very point I was making, which is sure - those of you who have already bought in keep "putting your money where your mouth is", but after this - no one who isn't already in is going to keep funneling real currency in so you can use your BitCoin ATM to withdraw cash. They only reason it hasn't fallen completely yet is because you folks are buying up from all the folks selling out, temporarily halting the decline. Once you folks run out of money to turn into BitCoin, or come to your senses, it will be worthless. Without new legal tender coming into the system, BitCoin literally worthless, because on its own it's just a virtual game with no intrinsic value unless folks are willing to trade real currency for it.
Exactly. I'm sorry, I'm not Mr. I Love and Completely Trust The Government, but reading what some of these folks say is just astounding. The level of fear and suspect is simply irrational. Now, when I say that, they will say I am a sheep or naive or what have you - but as you said, the dollar survived the last crisis, it survived previous issues, and even though it's not as absolutely strong as it once was, it's still the most a secure currency in the civilized world.
I don't know what makes these folks so scared, and the only defense they can give about BitCoin when confronted with it's obvious flaws as a "currency", pointing out the ways in which it is simply an investment scheme, is to try to say "yeah but the dollar is just as bad!" when clearly, it is not. Or they quote you Iceland or Cypress and ignore that the USD is far different than the currency in those places. Desperate attempts at deflection are the only "ammo" they have to retort with because, frankly,I do nt think most of them actually understand it for what it is - a pyramid scheme with a novel twist. While nothing is 100% certain, I know I would feel a hell of a lot more secure with $100,000 in cash in a fireproof safe, or even at a bank, than I would with the same amount in BitCoins sitting in an exchange or even in "cold storage" that's based on untested (and obviously flawed) protocols and trust in a completely unregulated private company in another country (or even our own). It's not even comparable. The value of BitCoin is really based in what someone is willing to pay you in legal tender in exchange for it, otherwise it's worthless. That's the pyramid part - it depends on new folks coming in and willing to buy your existing stock with legal tender which can then be used for goods and services. Without people actively buying into it with real currency, it's utterly useless and has no value.
BitCoin is the result of a lot of supposedly educated folks who are disillusioned with the government and, dare I say, mostly seem to be in their 20's and products of upper income homes who grew up in the 90's during all the "you deserve it!" entitlement trend in child rearing. I'm a product of the 80's, when we were all told we were "special" - but we were also told that we had to work for it and not to expect a free ride. The popularity of BitCoin among these folks is due to the "get rich quick" aspect that they always felt they deserved and believed they had finally found their golden ticket.
Ugh, you know you are getting older when you start to so clearly see the generational differences - every generation has it's quirks, and BitCoin is the manifestation of young smart folks with too much disposable income who think they are smarter than they actually are, and those that haven't taken their winnings and run yet are in for a very, very rude awakening when this all completely collapses and their money is gone.
But what you are missing is that to the masses out there that BitCoin needs to keep buying into the base of the pyramid to make current Bitcoins worth anything in the real world, MtGox is the onky exchange they have ever heard of, and first impressions may not be everything but they sure count for a lot. You guys who buy into this are missing the overall point - BitCoin has had more mainstream press over this than every before and it's all negative, terrible news. Most folks aren't going to get involved enough to see if your statements are correct - the bad kid in school has misbehaved, and that's the one that will be remembered.
Without folks continually pumping real legal tender into the BitCoin system it's worthless. The only reason it didn't drop totally yet is that the believers are buying up what people are selling who are getting out. Thinking they are going to pick them up now before they rise again. The truth is, it's not going to rise again because the only folks who are going to get involved now are the ones who are already in the thick of it - and without new blood bringing real legal tender to the table, it can only last so long with the already-in folks trading amongst themselves.
Precisely. And now those folks are scared shitless to even think about it. That's what the "everything is gonna be okay, folks!" wishful thinkers are missing here. It doesn't matter if it's rational or not - who the hell ever said investing/gambling was rational. Regardless of anything else, this was a big huge warning to those masses that told them to stay as far away from BitCoin as possible.
That's why this is the beginning of the end - some folks who have been mildly curious, or who haven't even really hard of or understood BitCoin, are being introduced by this - BitCoin has never had such constant mainstream press before. They aren't going to touch it with a ten-foot pole now. And the only way for the pyramid to keep working is if more and more people start buying into the base, and that just isn't going to happen at this point. So while the initiated will keep trading back and forth for awhile, and some of them will finance those who are jumping ship by buying up coins as they are down in price, this doesn't end well because without new investors buying into the pyramid to keep real legal tender flowing in, BitCoin will soon be worthless as no one will be willing to buy the pretend "currency" to make it actually worth anything in the real world.
I'd show them Back To The Future II - especially appropriate since the future they are visiting is 2015. As our world resembles 1985+smartphones more than the 2015 depicted in the film, it could help temper expectations and demonstrate that no matter what predictions one makes, (and let's face it, nothing in BTTF2 aside from flying cars was really that crazy to believe we would have in 25 years), the only thing certain is uncertainty. Obviously it's a fictional film and was not serious futurist prediction, but it would make the point and give something a little lighter to engage the students.
You are confusing a space elevator with BitCoin.
And the desire of anyone with the ability or funds to do it to go to space regularly enough to need it. When I think back to being a kid and how space felt like the future, it makes me sad that typically it seems like no one besides researchers gives a shit anymore. I used to watch Star Trek and knew it wouldn't happen in my lifetime but it felt like that was the eventual goal and the direction we were heading in. Now I see it as the fantasy it is, because without some compelling financial gain in taking trips up there for anything besides tourism for the super-rich, I think we are going to stay stuck on this rock.
You are confusing the MPAA with the ESRB.
In any case, this game is rated "M" - anything goes.
Technically, none of this (even the MPAA) is censorship to begin with, because none of these entities are government related (at least in the U.S.) - the reason the studios have their films rated by the MPAA is because of commercial considerations (many theaters refuse to show unrated or even NC-17 films), same as the ESRB (the latter being so inconsequential that no chain or store I know of refuses to stock M-rated titles, in their case it's to appease parents), not because of regulation.
When they make a kid show an ID to buy an M-rated game, or enter an R-rated film, it's also not governmental requirements, except in rare cases where local laws have been enacted to piggy-back on them. None of those local entities would have had the power to do anything about it aside bar children from entering theaters without an adult totally or only sell any games period to legal adults if the MPAA or ESRB didn't voluntarily exist and provide ratings guidelines for them to make local laws about.
Both were created due to "scares" of government regulation, but the witch hunts on both fronts long ago died and the responsibility is on the parents, where it should have been to begin with. It never would have happened in either case, but the industry pretended to be scared so they could "enforce" the regulations by proxy on the creative talents involved without looking like the bad guys ("Hey, it's not our fault - it's the MPAA's!" when really they didn't want content to prevent a film from being as commercially successful as possible) and to appease parent groups.
Considering the following is in the US version (per the article cited above), I don't think any "censorship" has gone on - nor do I think any changes were made at the behest of the game ratings board:
A mini-game in which the doctor is performing an abortion on the player.
A mini-game in which the player is performing an abortion on the character Randy.
Five anal probing scenes involving someone actively being probed.
That is precisely the scam of BitCoin.
It has pretended to be an "alternative currency" when in fact, it just was an investment scheme based on theoretical nothingness.
Otherwise educated folks bit on it as a "get rich quick" scheme hook, line, and BitCoin - because a bunch of techno-babble and theory that sounded like smart folks knew what they were talking about lured them in, coupled with the "The Man" view of the government held by (mostly) young and inexperienced people who think the sky is going to fall at any moment.
What the parent of these replies is still buying into is that the "eco-system" will somehow survive and balance this out, when the only thing BitCoin had going for it was the confidence (or wishful thinking) of the folks who bought into it had. That has now been shattered. The "eco-system" has been exposed - and it's not what was sold by all the fancy talk about open-transactions and how secure it was - in theory.
When they say "...will have to be very careful about where they hold their money" he is precisely correct - but he still misses that his money is in someone elses pocket who is higher up on the pyramid - it doesn't matter how "secure" you think encryption makes your BitCoins as the bottom is falling out of it as we type. I can lock up $1000 in cash in a fireproof, buried safe - and while the value of what that $1000 can buy me over time will depreciate, it's not going to suddenly turn into a stack of 1000 pennies.
Uh, WTF are you talking about?
I'm sure you can find the article if you look for it - I can't recall where it was at the moment - but this has all been known for many months and the publishers explained it at length. It's not "censorship", it's localization. Particularly when a private company is doing it on a consumer product.
The article went into each country and why they did it. And the graphic nature of the game was shocking even to me, who watches Game of Thrones and True Blood, LOL. Like, mini-games where you control a South Park child and your goal is to graphically perform an abortion on a woman by plucking out fetuses.
Sure, I've preordered it, haha - but I can certainly see why bits here and there were edited - it's a commercial decision, not a moral one.
You have the typical recurring "job blues".
I've had it before - but as you said yourself - you currently have "good benefits, lots of vacation time, very good salary" - not many folks can say that, particularly the last part.
If you were totally miserable, that would be one thing, but since you are clearly not and are just irritated with the way most companies end up working (that small start-up, if successful, will very likely turn into the same thing eventually), the best idea for personal fulfillment is to find a hobby, find some volunteer work where you think you can make a difference, find other things in life that fulfill you - which is good advice anyway, too many people look for their life meaning in how they generate income when the point of generating income is to be able to enjoy your life.
Since you aren't miserable, just frustrated, you don't want to take the chance that in a year your start-up goes belly up, when you've worked 52 weeks straight, had to scrimp and save money because your 'very good' salary is gone, and you look back and realize just how good you have it right now.
Normally I wouldn't be so blunt, but you did ask for advice - LOL - and that's the best I think anyone can give you who isn't living in the clouds or just blowing idealistic smoke up your ass because they don't know you as you are some random guy on the Internet they will never hear about again either way.
You are an idiot.
Instead of lecturing folks on the off-topic of volunteering, you might want to take a moment to grasp the point at hand.
You say that money is a bad idea, "think for yourself and not an authority think for you" - I have to presume by your idiocy combined with "screw the man" attitude that you are a high school or young college student who someone else (likely parents) take care of.
Since you do not understand the term bartering, I'll explain it: it means you give something to someone else that they want to exchange for something you want. Since your world doesn't have money, it was a valid question - because, presumably, someone has paid for the device you are typing on, the Internet connection you are using to blather your nonsense, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the roof you live under.
So, you were asked, since you eschew money as a bad idea, if you barter for everything - because otherwise, you are homeless and not eating, unless you are taking charity or stealing, or unless, as I originally surmised, mommy and/or daddy take care of it for you.
So those of us who live in the real world and earn our money to pay for our upkeep can't just decide to "not let authority think for us" and say money is meaningless/isn't needed, because we are smart enough to know that unless you are getting a free ride, it's absolutelyfucking necessary.
So go do your seven hours of volunteer work and pat yourself on the back, just don't forget to thank profusely whomever is paying for your upkeep/survival to enable you to be such an arrogant brat. If you don't thank them, you may find yourself with the need to acquaint yourself with money rather quickly, which considering your attitude makes me think it wouldn't be very pretty for you.
Just because it's cable does not mean it's high speed. You are talking about souped-up dial-up. You might be able to stream a low-quality audio file at that speed, at best. If all you do is basic web browsing, I'm sure that would suffice. But most of us need a somewhat higher speed.
On the other hand, the constant paranoia makes people sound as if we are living in a society where people just disapear off the streets and no one asks questions because they are afraid they will be next to be abducted and never heard from again. They act like the US is some police state or that we are in constant danger. I don't commit crimes, I don't associate with known criminals, I pay my taxes, and I drive safely. And you know what? The authorities and government leave me alone. Yes, we need to guard our privacy, the NSA thing (while slightly overblown, most people think that they actually have recordings of all the calls as opposed to just records of them because of all the hype), and hold them accountable, but this laughable notion that the "gubment is out to get all of us" just takes away from the real issues and is the same reason those scared folks in the Bible Belt stock up on 100's of weapons for when they "come to get 'em". Folks watch too many movies.
Could stuff happen? Sure. The sun could also have some heretofore unknown random chemical reaction and explode instantly killing us all. But people act so paranoid that they detract from the actual atrocities that go on - being one of the only first-world countries where getting cancer can make you go bankrupt, that we rank in the double digits for things like education, and the dangers of all the chemicals we ingest, breathe, clean, and live with being absorbed into every pore that we really know nothing about the long term effects of are. But oh yeah, be scared that Obama is gonna send some henchmen to rip you out of your house in the middle of the night and block your phone off and your family will never see or hear from you again. Because that happens every day, right?
Cute. Who the hell gets high speed Internet for $20/mo? Most of us are stuck with cable, which costs far more than that. Even though I don't live in the sticks, DSL is not an option available to me because I'm between two stations. And even where DSL is an option, it's speed is unreliable and not great to begin with. So I have two choices - Time Warner, or EarthLink - which just resells...Time Warner. The problem is the cable companies being in control of the majority of the broadband services in the country. They want to keep up the status quo and everyone in the dark ages as long as possible. The entire industry is anti-competitive to begin with, we should have a slew of cable providers to choose from, but we don't because they grease so many palms in Washington. They get to be anti-competitive like a utility (I can't change water or sewer companies, either) but don't have the same restrictions and other controls to keep them from overcharging for their services.