Random Stuff

[griffin]

Commercials showing up on TV this week by facebook, promoting their "charity" to bring affordable internet to people in parts of the world who don't have it... which is rather self-serving, because if they can get more people on the internet, they can make more money from them joining Facebook.

I guess they've gained all the money they can now from the markets that have affordable internet that Facebook have reached saturation point, to now need to get more people from developing markets onto the internet so that it opens up more markets, or else their profits will plateau/stagnate or drop off.

It's like a drug dealer setting up a charity to give out free needles to the community... and leave it up to the drug-users to find something to use them with, which the dealer can then profit from.

[Tober]

Unbelievable!

When Johnny and I broke up our band, we drifted apart. He started hanging out with all those rock star hairhead types, like the late Bobby Black. And when they needed money to get high, they did 'Rock Against Drugs' commercials.

- The Adventures of Ford Fairland

[griffin]

Couldn't find a smaller box???

(posted from overseas, which cost me more in postage than a much smaller box would have)

[Mythirax]

Couldn't find a smaller box???

(posted from overseas, which cost me more in postage than a much smaller box would have)

Wow.... that's crazy!

[griffin]

Commercials showing up on TV this week by facebook, promoting their "charity" to bring affordable internet to people in parts of the world who don't have it... which is rather self-serving, because if they can get more people on the internet, they can make more money from them joining Facebook.

I guess they've gained all the money they can now from the markets that have affordable internet that Facebook have reached saturation point, to now need to get more people from developing markets onto the internet so that it opens up more markets, or else their profits will plateau/stagnate or drop off.

It's like a drug dealer setting up a charity to give out free needles to the community... and leave it up to the drug-users to find something to use them with, which the dealer can then profit from.

For my own amusement, I had a look to see what sort of financial return Facebook are looking at with this Charity...

http://internet.org/press
It says that 2/3s of the world do not have internet access.

http://www.worldometers.info/world-p...on/#milestones
Global population is currently estimated to be about 7.3B.

That equates to 2.43B who have access to internet.

http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebook-statistics/
There are currently 1.3B users of Facebook, which equals 53% of those people who have internet access. (I doubt they will get too much more saturation, like maybe 60-70%, which means they need other means to increase Revenue & Profit, as it's not enough to keep earning Billions of Profit each year, Shareholders demand an increase in the Profit amount, or else they'll sell up and buy something else, which lowers the total value of the company and drive off other Shareholders)
Facebook was worth US$104B in February 2012.
Revenue from things like advertising on Facebook and on the other entities they have bought-out, earned them US$6B in 2013.

If their "charity" succeeds in getting affordable internet to the other 2/3s of the population in the world, and continues with a minimum of 53% saturation of the internet marketplace, that's a potential increase of US$12B annual revenue, taking it up to US$18B every year, back into the pockets of Facebook shareholders.

Charity?
Due to a conflict of interest, or just the ulterior motives of greed, Facebook is looking at a potential return of US$12 Billion profit from a "charity" venture that should be done without the hope for a reward... so who's really benefiting from this so called Charity?

And why do people in developing and impoverished conditions "need" internet so desperately?
Facebook (and other Billion Dollar corporations) should be trying to end poverty and starvation first, then maybe help provide luxuries to the world like internet and personal devices/computers for them to profit from.

Their true motives are clearly being spun to look like the impoverished people in the world would rather have internet access than food or shelter, or living free of fear from the injuries, raping or death of war.

(unlike Microsoft's founder who is spending half a Billion US Dollars trying to eradicate Malaria... which isn't being done to generate future sales in Windows computers)


Okay... that was a little rantish, because I hate seeing the excessive corporate greed of companies and people who already have Billions of Dollars to them, and yet, that's still not enough to satisfy their greed.
All the while, there are millions of their fellow Human Beings suffering with nothing, that they could be helping... but instead want to find ways to make money off them, like having them work for slave rates in 3rd world countries, or make them become a consumer of their products even if they can't afford it, or it is a product that is over-priced (like necessary common medications that are patented by corporations) or has poor quality... or completely unnecessary (billions were made from cigarettes that were designed to be more addictive than regular tobacco or cigars, yet became more toxic as a by-product of those added chemicals).

[jazzcomp]

Couldn't find a smaller box???

(posted from overseas, which cost me more in postage than a much smaller box would have)

How much? I want those too

[griffin]

How much? I want those too

More than I was happy with, because I only ended up needing the Megatron.

They were from Florida, costing me US$35 postage.

When I bought them at US$45 on the one listing, I thought they were the last two that I needed from the Micron Legend SCF figurines, so I was willing to spend US$80 for the pair, but I should have double-checked my shelf, because the title of the listing had me thinking they were both Chase figures, and I needed the Chase Optimus and Megatron. But in the description paragraph, it was clearly stated that only Megatron was a Chase, so it was my fault for not checking.

So I have the Optimus w/ gun spare, which is just the regular version. The Chase version of this one has him holding the Star Saber, while the Chase Optimus figurine that I am missing is the Cybertronian pre-formatted Optimus. (there were three Cybertronian pre-formatted figurines - Red Alert, Megatron, Optimus - and they were all Chase figures across Act 9 & 10 of the SCF series)

For something pretty to look at, below is a comparison of the Chase Megatron and Chase Optimus/Star Saber figurines with their regular release figurines.

[Sinnertwin]

Couldn't find a smaller box???

(posted from overseas, which cost me more in postage than a much smaller box would have)

talk about opposite ends of the spectrum in regards to packaging.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

For my own amusement, I had a look to see what sort of financial return Facebook are looking at with this Charity...

That's quite despicable of Facebook.

I talked to a girl at work and she told me she couldn't imagine a world without the internet (admittedly she was pretty stupid*). I was shocked. Sure the internet is handy, but It's by no means a necessity. I'd miss it if it broke forever (Check that lingo!), but life can exist without it....


*She wrote an essay on David and Goliath, the whole time thinking David was a sheep, because she didn't know what a shepherd was.

[Paulbot]

I can't see a blue and black dress.

I can't trust my eyes.

Reality is an illusion!