Recent posts

#1

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Razgovory - Today at 07:17:17 AM

The left loves islam, for reasons unknown.

It's not quite love, but it is a double standard.  There are several related reasons for this.  The Right (Not the Islamic Right of course), doesn't like them so they feel that is a good reason to support them.  They are identified as "Oppressed", and thus more moral than the oppressors.  They don't want to get called Racist or Islamophobic, so fear is factor.  There is also the simple pragmatic element, they don't want to alienate Muslim voters.

The result is the rankest hypocrisy.  Two people hold the same views on homosexuality and gender, a Muslim and a Christian.  Both claim their beliefs come from their holy scripture.  One is held in contempt, and written off as a fascist.  The other is welcomed as an ally.  And if that ally isn't keen on Jew... Well, it would be racist to tell them they are wrong.

#2

Off the Record / Re: Youtube Recommendations

Last post by Syt - Today at 05:25:37 AM

One of Weird Al's most iconic videos is "White & Nerdy" (parody of Ridin' Dirty).

One of the best things is Donny Osmond as background dancer in some scenes.

I did not know till now that Al had a video of just them on his channel for the whole song. Donny Osmond is mesmerizing and amazing in this.

"Normal" video. Posted it before, but you can never watch it too often.

#3

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Josquius - Today at 05:04:21 AM

Google says it's Arabic for eee by gum

#4

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Crazy_Ivan80 - Today at 04:56:15 AM

Over here its Arabs using it. So might be a different wallah.

#5

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by jimmy olsen - Today at 04:09:42 AM

So apparently the Russian Duma has rejected Trump's farcical peace plan, saying only total victory is acceptable.

Link?

#6

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis GOP?

Last post by Josquius - Today at 04:06:03 AM

Even if her aim is to be more of a POS than trump it is still encouraging that someone from The inner circle would feel secure enough to challenge the regime.

#7

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Josquius - Today at 03:59:01 AM

Vertical integration is where the same company owns multiple steps of the supply chain.
A company which owns the farm, the factory, and the supermarket.
In Googles case they own absolutely everything around advertising. Buyer software, seller, exchange.... It's all Google.
Breaking them up could mean focusing on this behind the scenes bit.
But even breaking up the public facing parts of the business would weaken their hold on the advertising market. At the the least takes some seller space away from them, but also weakens the amount of data they have to offer in the buyer tools.

I don't know what "breaking them up could mean focusing on this behind the scenes bit"  means.

Why do you want to weaken their hold on the advertising market?  They're a near monopoly in search, not in advertising.

Come on. That's playing too dumb. You don't know what I mean by behind the scenes when I specifically mention it in a paragraph about advertising?

They absolutely do have a monopoly in parts of advertising on a par with their search dominance. Something like 90% of ads flow through their server.

#8

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 02:29:32 AM

Vertical integration is where the same company owns multiple steps of the supply chain.
A company which owns the farm, the factory, and the supermarket.
In Googles case they own absolutely everything around advertising. Buyer software, seller, exchange.... It's all Google.
Breaking them up could mean focusing on this behind the scenes bit.
But even breaking up the public facing parts of the business would weaken their hold on the advertising market. At the the least takes some seller space away from them, but also weakens the amount of data they have to offer in the buyer tools.

I don't know what "breaking them up could mean focusing on this behind the scenes bit"  means.

Why do you want to weaken their hold on the advertising market?  They're a near monopoly in search, not in advertising.

#9

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:07:40 AM

That's a textbook definition. Regulators never apply monopoly as meaning literally the only supplier. More one that has massive dominance.
With over 90% of the search market for example Google absolutely fits the bill there.

But you seem to have missed the point of what I said here.
The horizontal integration isn't the problem. The problem is the vertical integration made possible by the horizontal integration.

Valmy seems to think the horizontal integration is the problem.  Otherwise why would he call for Google to be broken up?

Please explain what you mean by vertical integration and how it applies to Google.

Vertical integration is where the same company owns multiple steps of the supply chain.
A company which owns the farm, the factory, and the supermarket.
In Googles case they own absolutely everything around advertising. Buyer software, seller, exchange.... It's all Google.
Breaking them up could mean focusing on this behind the scenes bit.
But even breaking up the public facing parts of the business would weaken their hold on the advertising market. At the the least takes some seller space away from them, but also weakens the amount of data they have to offer in the buyer tools.

 

#10

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by The Minsky Moment - Today at 12:35:24 AM

The audience is the troll bots feeding American social media, and its legions of useful idiots: Fox News, Vance, Tucker and Co etc