Random Thoughts XIV: Pizza, Pomegranate Juice, and Shreddies
- Thread starter Valka D'Ur
- Start date
- Status
Synobun
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2006
- Messages
- 24,884
Amazon has instated its new ads addition to Prime Video. I'm not pleased that they're introducing this to annual plans that are already paid for. Feels like it should be illegal to do that, since you paid for a specific service delivered in a specific way. But the price is $3/mo and Prime itself is $10/mo if you aren't doing annual, in which case it drops to $99/yr. I can't be that mad about it, since I also make use of the free, faster shipping and the free Twitch subscription + MTX drops.
But I can see why Americans would be upset. Americans, after currency conversion, pay $20/mo for Amazon Prime. And are now also paying for no ads. That's getting pretty steep. Prime + no ads is $9.64 USD/mo for Canadians.
But I can see why Americans would be upset. Americans, after currency conversion, pay $20/mo for Amazon Prime. And are now also paying for no ads. That's getting pretty steep. Prime + no ads is $9.64 USD/mo for Canadians.
You know how sometimes you can fix electronic or computer problems by turning it off and on again, or unplugging it and plugging it back in? What if physical health problems worked like that too, would that be cool, like I could turn a switch on my neck and I system reboot and suddenly whatever problem I had is gone
There are some (likely only fringe) neuroscience people who claim they are closing in on breakthroughs on directing cells to revert back to a better period. At any rate, chances are that the lifespan of humans will keep increasing, and at some point perhaps there will be cures for everything.
But that's a tale for the era after the great war
But that's a tale for the era after the great war
Bonyduck Campersang
Staring into the distance
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2022
- Messages
- 4,704
It is, but it's up to you to enforce it.
Whence cometh the full story?
Synobun
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2006
- Messages
- 24,884
Unfortunately my ability to enforce the law on Jeff Bezos is limited.
There are groups considering suing in Germany, since it's essentially a hidden increase in price, which requires that you agree to it. I would think this has a chance of being succesful.
Do you believe in rebirth...?
We pay $139 a year for prime. That has now gone up by $2.99/month ($36 per year) to not see ads. It may not be worth it. We have to see how much we save on shipping stuff.
It is an inherent problem with the civil legal system. Except for exceptional circumstances it is a public service that provides a way to get what you want that is only available to the rich.
I sued a HDD manufacturer when a new drive crashed and I lost all my data. They paid me $3000. Now, it was in small claims court in NM and they never showed up to respond, so I won. This was 20 or so years ago. It cost me about $100 to file my case.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Was it a Fujitsu?
No, IIRC it was Maxtor
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Just wondering 'cause i remember when Fujitsu made a large number of drives using a shipment of defective control chips or something. At least i think it was Fujitsu. Back around the early-mid 2000's.
My boss at the computer store ended up on multiple occasions taking a stack of drives back to their office and got them exchanged free of charge.
https://slashdot.org/story/02/11/12/116241/have-fujitsu-harddrives-been-failing-in-record-numbers
Yeah true, I guess I'm just generally wishing those kind of issues were easier fixes
In what sense, like in reincarnation?
I know! The man's entire business strategy is to use other people's money and other people's unpaid work to drive other people out of business and as such keep increasing sales in order to get more of other people's money in the form of stock sales and other funding and so he's very much running a planetary Ponzi scheme.
Keep in mind that anyone who uses CCs, mortgages or other debt financing is using "other peoples' money". In addition, if improved sales or other financial data increases the stock prices such that people buy more Amazon stock, those stock purchases are for stock currently owned by people and not the company. Market transactions do not add to the cash that Amazon holds. If you or I buy 1000 shares of Amazon today, the money goes to some anonymous seller who pockets the money. Monopoly issues aside, how is Amazon a Ponzi scheme?
As of this week Amazon has $86,780 billion in cash/cash equivalents, enough to do what it needs to without much borrowing.
A Ponzi scheme (/ˈpɒnzi/, Italian: [ˈpontsi]) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors.[1] Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, this scheme misleads investors by either falsely suggesting that profits are derived from legitimate business activities (whereas the business activities are non-existent), or by exaggerating the extent and profitability of the legitimate business activities, leveraging new investments to fabricate or supplement these profits. A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business as long as investors continue to contribute new funds, and as long as most of the investors do not demand full repayment or lose faith in the non-existent assets they are purported to own.
- Status
