For the past few years we have had ads running on adsense... 2 weeks ago, we decided we would rather lose the sales that adsense was bringing in than continue to pay google for ads that weren't generating enough revenue.
For comparison, our conversion rates:
Google Search: 3.5% Google adsense: 0.25%
I don't know what other companies are doing.. but I wouldn't be surprised companies are considering dropping adsense. There is just to much fraud.
there are many govt. mandated benefits for those in the "lower" castes
If that is true, what does it matter if there government benefits.. does that mean it doesn't exist? A person in a lower caste with government benefits is still a person in a lower caste. A poor person with welfare benefits is still a poor person. An unemployed person with unemployment is still unemployed.
it's almost a disadvantage to be one of the "forward" castes in India,
You're from one of those 'forward' castes, aren't you? You don't see how bad it really is, because you aren't at the bottom of this system (which is the same reason why you see little wrong with it). Are you seriously going to try to argue that those at the bottom of the caste system almost have it better than those at the top?
I could make arguments about the population of India and how casteism is by no means the biggest problem these people face.
That I can agree with. India has many issues it must face.. the caste system is one of those, but it is arguable whether it is the biggest.
I could also make arguments about how the most developed nation in the world suffers from the same racial discriminatory issues and ignorance and paranoia and xenophobia.
Even if that is true (although I don't agree (completely) that it is)... it doesn't change the fact that the caste system exists in India. and that it is grossly unfair to those at the bottom.
I agree with you.. but it's not just the west who chooses to do business with China and other oppressive regimes. From the article:
Looking for new friends and partners in a rapidly changing world, the Bush administration clearly hopes that India, a fellow democracy, will be a reliable counterweight against China as well as Iran. But trade and cooperation between India and China is growing; and, though grateful for American generosity on the nuclear issue, India is too dependent on Iran for oil (it is also exploring developing a gas pipeline to Iran) to wholeheartedly support the United States in its efforts to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
If India really feels that way about the west.. then they are being hypocrites.
The caste system has been inverted? Where do you get this crap?
National Geographic did an entire feature about the caste system in India. Link to article
Branded as impure from the moment of birth, one in six Indians lives -- and suffers -- at the bottom of the Hindu caste system.
...
Discrimination against India's lowest Hindu castes is technically illegal. But try telling that to the 160 million Untouchables, who face violent reprisals if they forget their place.
...
The sins of Girdharilal Maurya are many, his attackers insisted. He has bad karma. Why else would he, like his ancestors, be born an Untouchable, if not to pay for his past lives? Look, he is a leatherworker, and Hindu law says that working with animal skins makes him unclean, someone to avoid and revile. And his unseemly prosperity is a sin. Who does this Untouchable think he is, buying a small plot of land outside the village? Then he dared speak up, to the police and other authorities, demanding to use the new village well. He got what Untouchables deserve.
One night, while Maurya was away in a nearby city, eight men from the higher Rajput caste came to his farm. They broke his fences, stole his tractor, beat his wife and daughter, and burned down his house. The message was clear: Stay at the bottom where you belong.
Branded as impure from the moment of birth, one in six Indians lives -- and suffers -- at the bottom of the Hindu caste system.
...
Discrimination against India's lowest Hindu castes is technically illegal. But try telling that to the 160 million Untouchables, who face violent reprisals if they forget their place.
...
The sins of Girdharilal Maurya are many, his attackers insisted. He has bad karma. Why else would he, like his ancestors, be born an Untouchable, if not to pay for his past lives? Look, he is a leatherworker, and Hindu law says that working with animal skins makes him unclean, someone to avoid and revile. And his unseemly prosperity is a sin. Who does this Untouchable think he is, buying a small plot of land outside the village? Then he dared speak up, to the police and other authorities, demanding to use the new village well. He got what Untouchables deserve.
One night, while Maurya was away in a nearby city, eight men from the higher Rajput caste came to his farm. They broke his fences, stole his tractor, beat his wife and daughter, and burned down his house. The message was clear: Stay at the bottom where you belong.
$5,000 per PC? Do you really think that is unreasonable? How much do you think it costs to wipe a computer, restore everything from backup, and then redo all of the work that was lost (ie: the work that wasn't in the backup)? Then someone needs to go through all of the logs, and find out exactly what he did.
And don't tell me they didn't have to do anything to the computers. If some asshole breaks in my server, the only thing you can do to be sure he hasn't left a backdoor behind is to wipe the entire thing.
How long do you think all of that is going to take? If anything, $5,000 is reasonable... maybe even a little on the low side. Now repeat that for 140 fscking computers.
Oh, and BTW.. in the U.S. if you break into my home, I'm allowed to shoot you.. even if you are just taking a look around. I think that is reasonable (I have no idea why you're there anyway.. why the hell are you on my property?)
When a mosquito sucks blood from a human, it will take in twice its body weight in blood. To decrease this added weight, the mosquito urinates on its victim to release fluids.
Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991),[1] commonly called just Feist v. Rural, was a United States Supreme Court case in which Feist copied information from Rural's telephone listings to include in its own, after Rural refused to license the information. Rural sued for copyright infringement. The Court ruled that information contained in Rural's phone directory was not copyrightable, and that therefore no infringement existed.
I would think that the case would apply here.. since both the information in FreeDB's db, and the information in the phone book are just collections of public information.
That just reinforces my belief that you don't know what the hell you are talking about. Have you ever, even once, seen statistics for a country's revenue?
The only thing I could imagine you are refering to is the government's revenue... but what does that have to do with how wealthy a nation is? All that would tell me is how much they collect in taxes.
Please save everything the trouble of reading your crap, and do a little research.. it's not that hard.
also.. the GDP of California is approximately the same as Spain or Italy.. so it is impossible for the GDP of all of Africa to be both 1/4th of Spain's and approximately the same as California.
Why don't you stop talking out of your ass.. and actually do a little research.. then you won't look like an idiot. Thx.
Nigeria has a notable income level when compared with Africa? Maybe if you only look at the GDP of the entire country. Take a look at the GDP per capita:
Yeah.. well the problem with me, is that I live in the real world (it's that bright area you can see through your window.. you know with a Sun, wind, and fresh air)
In the real world, a TV show can be put on a TV network, where people from around the country can view it for free. Millions will watch the show, and advertisers will pay millions to put their ad in front of those viewers. They will watch the show on a device called a Television, or TV for short. These TVs are in virtually every household, and will display the show (virtually) without any problems. The TV is also very easy to use, and both young and old have absolutely no problem operating it.
In your fantasy world, someone will place a show on the internet, where it will instantly get attention from people around the world. People will then put up tens of millions of dollars for a show they've never heard of. 9-10 months later (which is how long Futurama takes to produce a single episode), they will download it and watch it on their computer. They will put up with lag, jittery scenes, and the audio and video not syncing correctly. Alternatively, they will download the entire show over (in most cases) dialup, and will watch the show after waiting hours for the download to finish. They will then watch the show in a barely visable 480x440 window (which is approximately NTSC resolution). Those who have problems operating a computer (older people, and children) need not watch the show.
Give me a break.. his idea is a joke and is ridiculous and would never work in the real world. A high budget TV show like Futurama needs a lot of money, and a lot of viewers. A TV show needs to be on TV to get a lot of viewers.. not the friken internet.
it costs 1-2 million dollars to produce each episode of Futurama. We could debate whether they could raise that kind of money over the internet..
also, your model doesn't work for new shows.. if your model was in place before Futurama, it would have never been created.. people won't donate to a show they've never heard of and have no idea if they'll even like it.
that is flat-out wrong. Yes, checks by third parties affect your credit rating. However, checks that you make yourself have no affect on your rating, no matter how many times you check it.
I was just reading an article in the NYTimes about Dell.. for the first time (ever?) they grew slower the the PC market overall. They said one of the reasons was because the Indian tech support was so poor, it was hurting their reputation. So they will start moving tech support jobs back to America.. they said it will be a few years though.
you are so wrong, I'm tempted to just call you a troll, and ignore you. In fact, I do think you are a troll.. there is no possible way you could have researched the Rwanda conflict and learned so many things wrong. So you're either a liar or a troll.. you can pick.
Centuries ago there may have been physical differences between the two, however that has not been the case for quite a long while due to intermarriage. Before the Belgians came to Rwanda, a Hutu could become a Tutsi (and vice-versa) simply by changing their line of work. The Tutsi were the upper class, and the Hutu the lower class. They both shared the same culture, and language, and looked the same (again, due to intermarriage, which was very common). At that time, Hutu and Tutsi no longer represented ethnic groups. Before the Belgians, racially based violence never occurred between the Hutu and Tutsi.
When the Belgians came, they ruled through the Tutsi (the upper class). In the Belgian colony, the Hutu were subject to the forced labor which disfigured many European colonies in Africa, while the Tutsi supervised them. In 1933, the Belgians issued everyone racial identity cards. From that point on, you could no longer change your status. You were either a Tutsi or Hutu for life.
The Belgians set in stone the distinction between the two groups, and favored the Tutsi. As you can imagine when one group is oppressed by another group, this created a strain between the two groups. This is what laid the groundwork for the violence that occurred later, and this is what I was refering to in my original post.
The seeds of ethnic and political conflict that would culminate in the genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda were sown during the first half of the 20th century. After Germany was defeated in World War I, Belgium inherited the territory of "Ruanda-Urundi" as part of the spoils of war. The Belgian colonists divided Rwandan society along ethnic lines, favoring the cattle-owning Tutsi tribesman over the largely agricultural Hutu majority, and soon began to exercise their will through the Tutsi monarchy. Tutsis were given privileged access to colonial schools and placed in better jobs than their neighbors, and in 1935 the colonial administration issued identity cards to distinguish members of the two groups.
...and, everytime a customer files a chargeback, they'll lose the $50 + the chargeback fee their bank charges them (usually $25 or so).
When you file a chargeback.. you're bank doesn't lose anything. They just take it from the merchant.
I know this is offensive for you to hear.. but not all problems are caused by America. Maybe we should all be doing something productive, like finding a reason to blame this on the U.S., but the fact remains that the Hutu/Tutsi genocide was caused by Europeans.
You're really quick to call me a racist without even looking up the history of Europe in Rwanda.
Especially their history and their racial differences and their cultural differences.
I'm glad that makes you feel better and justified for what happened there.. but that is not the case. There were no racial or cultural differences between Hutu/Tutsi before Belgians and Germans came to Rwanda. The idea of them being different races was created by the Belgians, and taught to the school children there. It laid the groundwork for the genocide that took place later.
Probbay yo like to look up Wikipedia or google to learn abit about the Hutu and Tutsi.
Well, I did... and I'm going to quote quite a bit of it here, so that maybe you'll read it and learn something, even if you don't like what it says.
one finds Belgian colonists conducting a census, and defining "Tutsi" as anyone with more than ten cows or a long nose, while a "Hutu" meant someone with less than ten cows and a squashed nose. In yet another context, German colonists amazed by the prominent "European-like" noses of some Rwandans; they wove fanciful historical and racial theories to explain how some Africans acquired such noses. In addition, they were amazed by the organized society existing in the Kingdom of Rwanda. According to these early twentieth-century Europeans such organization and such noses could only be explained by European descent, transmitted by way of Ethiopia. These ideas were taught to Rwandan schoolchildren and laid the basis for the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
Since there weren't any blood or cultural differences between the two "groups", it was easy for them to change their supposed identity or to confuse the two. A Hutu could become a Tutsi, simply by raising cattle, and a Tutsi could become a Hutu by working in agriculture.
In most circumstances, a foreigner and even native Rwandans and Burundians cannot tell the difference simply by looking at a Tutsi or Hutu.
There is little difference between the cultures of the Tutsi and Hutu; both groups speak the same language. Traditionally the rate of intermarriage has been very high, and relations between the groups were generally peaceful until the 20th century.
Both Germany (before World War I) and Belgium ruled the area in a colonial capacity. It was Belgian colonialists who created the notions of two different races rather than castes.
Belgians took over the colony in 1916 from the Germans, they felt that the colony would be better governed if they classified the different races in a hierarchical form. They felt that the Hutu were children who needed to be guided, and saw the Tutsi as the superior race. In fact they couldn't believe that the Tutsi were part of the African race at all. They thought that they had immigrated from somewhere else, or were survivors of the lost continent of Atlantis. Interestingly in 1959 the Belgian established racial hierarchy was reversed with the Hutu being considered the superior group and taking the prime positions in society. This increased oppression of the Tutsi by the Hutu, and led to many cultural conflicts, including the Rwandan Genocide.
The ICTR's landmark decision in Prosecutor v. Akayesu in 1998 made it the first tribunal ever to convict for genocide. The tribunal struggled with fitting the Hutu and Tutsi into distinct groups - a requisite elem
Slashdot Mirror
1 in 400 clicks
Also on their about us page.. it says he also owns this site: http://www.petsorfood.com/index.shtml
that sounds about right... internet companies typically spend 25-35% of revenue on marketing.
For the past few years we have had ads running on adsense... 2 weeks ago, we decided we would rather lose the sales that adsense was bringing in than continue to pay google for ads that weren't generating enough revenue.
For comparison, our conversion rates:
Google Search: 3.5%
Google adsense: 0.25%
I don't know what other companies are doing.. but I wouldn't be surprised companies are considering dropping adsense. There is just to much fraud.
there are many govt. mandated benefits for those in the "lower" castes
If that is true, what does it matter if there government benefits.. does that mean it doesn't exist? A person in a lower caste with government benefits is still a person in a lower caste. A poor person with welfare benefits is still a poor person. An unemployed person with unemployment is still unemployed.
it's almost a disadvantage to be one of the "forward" castes in India,
You're from one of those 'forward' castes, aren't you? You don't see how bad it really is, because you aren't at the bottom of this system (which is the same reason why you see little wrong with it). Are you seriously going to try to argue that those at the bottom of the caste system almost have it better than those at the top?
I could make arguments about the population of India and how casteism is by no means the biggest problem these people face.
That I can agree with. India has many issues it must face.. the caste system is one of those, but it is arguable whether it is the biggest.
I could also make arguments about how the most developed nation in the world suffers from the same racial discriminatory issues and ignorance and paranoia and xenophobia.
Even if that is true (although I don't agree (completely) that it is)... it doesn't change the fact that the caste system exists in India. and that it is grossly unfair to those at the bottom.
160 million people are in the bottom caste of Indian society. That is a far larger problem than racism in america.. the two don't even compare.
so I'm suppose to believe a geocities site (BTW: the link is 404) rather than National Geographic and other reputable papers?
If India really feels that way about the west.. then they are being hypocrites.
National Geographic did an entire feature about the caste system in India. Link to article
Link to Article:
$5,000 per PC? Do you really think that is unreasonable? How much do you think it costs to wipe a computer, restore everything from backup, and then redo all of the work that was lost (ie: the work that wasn't in the backup)? Then someone needs to go through all of the logs, and find out exactly what he did.
And don't tell me they didn't have to do anything to the computers. If some asshole breaks in my server, the only thing you can do to be sure he hasn't left a backdoor behind is to wipe the entire thing.
How long do you think all of that is going to take? If anything, $5,000 is reasonable... maybe even a little on the low side. Now repeat that for 140 fscking computers.
Oh, and BTW.. in the U.S. if you break into my home, I'm allowed to shoot you.. even if you are just taking a look around. I think that is reasonable (I have no idea why you're there anyway.. why the hell are you on my property?)
http://www.discover.com/issues/mar-02/departments
http://www.unr.edu/nevadanews/detail.aspx?id=1205
According to this: http://www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/WildLife/BuzzMo
Wikipedia:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling
I would think that the case would apply here.. since both the information in FreeDB's db, and the information in the phone book are just collections of public information.
REVENUE!?!???
That just reinforces my belief that you don't know what the hell you are talking about. Have you ever, even once, seen statistics for a country's revenue?
The only thing I could imagine you are refering to is the government's revenue... but what does that have to do with how wealthy a nation is? All that would tell me is how much they collect in taxes.
Please save everything the trouble of reading your crap, and do a little research.. it's not that hard.
also.. the GDP of California is approximately the same as Spain or Italy.. so it is impossible for the GDP of all of Africa to be both 1/4th of Spain's and approximately the same as California.
Why don't you stop talking out of your ass.. and actually do a little research.. then you won't look like an idiot. Thx.
MOD PARENT DOWN
Nigeria has a notable income level when compared with Africa? Maybe if you only look at the GDP of the entire country. Take a look at the GDP per capita:
Nigeria: 1400
Botswana: 10,500
Namibia: 7,000
Zimbabwe: 2,300
Mozambique: 1,300
Angola: 3,200
Congo: 1,300
Gabon: 6,800
Uganda: 1,800
Sudan: 2,100
Chad: 1,500
Ghana: 2,500
Cote d'Ivoire: 1,600
Algeria: 7,200
Libya: 11,400
Morocco: 4,200
Nigeria does have a GDP of 174.1 billion.. but it's hardly "notable":
Algeria: 233.2 billion
Morocco: 138.3 billion
Sudan: 85.65 billion
Ethiopia: 62.88 billion
I'm not going to go through the whole list..
BTW:
South Africa GDP: 533.2 billion
Spain GDP: 1.029 trillion
So South Africa alone is 1/2 of Spains output.. so that also disproves your claim that Spains output is 4x all of Africas..
Perhaps you should do your research instead of telling other people to do it.
Yeah.. well the problem with me, is that I live in the real world (it's that bright area you can see through your window.. you know with a Sun, wind, and fresh air)
In the real world, a TV show can be put on a TV network, where people from around the country can view it for free. Millions will watch the show, and advertisers will pay millions to put their ad in front of those viewers. They will watch the show on a device called a Television, or TV for short. These TVs are in virtually every household, and will display the show (virtually) without any problems. The TV is also very easy to use, and both young and old have absolutely no problem operating it.
In your fantasy world, someone will place a show on the internet, where it will instantly get attention from people around the world. People will then put up tens of millions of dollars for a show they've never heard of. 9-10 months later (which is how long Futurama takes to produce a single episode), they will download it and watch it on their computer. They will put up with lag, jittery scenes, and the audio and video not syncing correctly. Alternatively, they will download the entire show over (in most cases) dialup, and will watch the show after waiting hours for the download to finish. They will then watch the show in a barely visable 480x440 window (which is approximately NTSC resolution). Those who have problems operating a computer (older people, and children) need not watch the show.
Give me a break.. his idea is a joke and is ridiculous and would never work in the real world. A high budget TV show like Futurama needs a lot of money, and a lot of viewers. A TV show needs to be on TV to get a lot of viewers.. not the friken internet.
Sorry for crushing your dream.
it costs 1-2 million dollars to produce each episode of Futurama. We could debate whether they could raise that kind of money over the internet..
also, your model doesn't work for new shows.. if your model was in place before Futurama, it would have never been created.. people won't donate to a show they've never heard of and have no idea if they'll even like it.
that is flat-out wrong. Yes, checks by third parties affect your credit rating. However, checks that you make yourself have no affect on your rating, no matter how many times you check it.
I was just reading an article in the NYTimes about Dell.. for the first time (ever?) they grew slower the the PC market overall. They said one of the reasons was because the Indian tech support was so poor, it was hurting their reputation. So they will start moving tech support jobs back to America.. they said it will be a few years though.
Centuries ago there may have been physical differences between the two, however that has not been the case for quite a long while due to intermarriage. Before the Belgians came to Rwanda, a Hutu could become a Tutsi (and vice-versa) simply by changing their line of work. The Tutsi were the upper class, and the Hutu the lower class. They both shared the same culture, and language, and looked the same (again, due to intermarriage, which was very common). At that time, Hutu and Tutsi no longer represented ethnic groups. Before the Belgians, racially based violence never occurred between the Hutu and Tutsi.
When the Belgians came, they ruled through the Tutsi (the upper class). In the Belgian colony, the Hutu were subject to the forced labor which disfigured many European colonies in Africa, while the Tutsi supervised them. In 1933, the Belgians issued everyone racial identity cards. From that point on, you could no longer change your status. You were either a Tutsi or Hutu for life.
The Belgians set in stone the distinction between the two groups, and favored the Tutsi. As you can imagine when one group is oppressed by another group, this created a strain between the two groups. This is what laid the groundwork for the violence that occurred later, and this is what I was refering to in my original post.
Links (that YOU should really be looking for.. I am not your personal researcher):
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHist
http://www.iss.co.za/Af/profiles/Rwanda/Politics.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/rwanda/ha
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/rwanda/mo
...and, everytime a customer files a chargeback, they'll lose the $50 + the chargeback fee their bank charges them (usually $25 or so). When you file a chargeback.. you're bank doesn't lose anything. They just take it from the merchant.
You're really quick to call me a racist without even looking up the history of Europe in Rwanda.
Especially their history and their racial differences and their cultural differences.
I'm glad that makes you feel better and justified for what happened there.. but that is not the case. There were no racial or cultural differences between Hutu/Tutsi before Belgians and Germans came to Rwanda. The idea of them being different races was created by the Belgians, and taught to the school children there. It laid the groundwork for the genocide that took place later.
Probbay yo like to look up Wikipedia or google to learn abit about the Hutu and Tutsi.
Well, I did... and I'm going to quote quite a bit of it here, so that maybe you'll read it and learn something, even if you don't like what it says.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutsi
14 years to get at least $9 million.. hmm.. $642,000/each year... doesn't sound like a bad deal. where do I sign up. :)