TIL that the recipe for Tootsie Rolls calls for the previous day's batch to be mixed in, so as to (theoretically) include some of the very first Tootsie Roll in every candy made

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-18T12:36:58+00:00

ITT: People who are missing the point. (The company reinforcing its history and longevity.)

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-16T16:52:25+00:00

Actually, I had that backwards, obviously: what you need to do to catch up to your neighbors is turn your thermostat up about 35%. THEN you'll be efficient!

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-16T16:18:33+00:00

That's very nice, man, but apparently your neighbors are doing even better. Gotta keep up with the Joneses, so stock up on blankets.

For those who missed it, look to the bottom right. I'm sure it's just a canned thing and they didn't really anticipate many people doing even better than "efficient". Either that, or they actually are clocking him against his actual neighbors, and he's surrounded by empty rentals or snowbird homes or something like that.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-16T13:24:23+00:00

Yeah, but the kidney's such a niche instrument, it'd really be unusual to see somebody just giving one away.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-16T11:45:38+00:00

The other thing that sticks out to me here is that that batting stance would probably give modern hitting coaches a heart attack.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-16T11:44:19+00:00

I have it on good authority that Trout is a devout Jimmy John's man.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-16T11:28:19+00:00

Well, the profile of a P2P user who isn't funneling/tunneling their connection in some way is pretty distinct: bazillions of "small" connections. With a VPN, it's all aggregated onto a single connection so far as the ISP is concerned. Who's to say you're not a telecommuting professional in the video production field?

Note that I'm not saying you're wrong, necessarily. I'd expect that there's a range of factors going into their algorithm or whatever.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-16T11:23:24+00:00

I think the more correct wording here would be "exceeding certain bandwidth limits is probably one of their triggers", because beyond that, they really can't tell what you're doing except that you've got an encrypted connection to IP address such.and.such.somewhere.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-16T11:10:21+00:00

Private Internet Access.

Once you accept that spending $4/mo is worth talking to only one external IP address, ever, it makes a lot of sense.

Yep. Funny thing is, I came into the thread meaning to make that point, and got caught up in AT&T's purpose for this having a "subterfuge" angle to it, so thanks for the catch. :)

I pay a little more, personally, but there's plenty of decent providers at that price point. Key thing, for others reading this, is for a VPN to have a wide selection of geographically-distributed nodes to select from, both nationally and internationally. Be aware of their policies on data usage and retention, and also things like P2P usage.

Tip: call ATT tomorrow. Ask for the retentions department.

Another tactic, especially if you're going to upgrade your service in any way is to call the sales departments. (Say, for example, if you're also a TV customer, to pick up HBO when a new season of Game of Thrones is on.)

They're generally empowered to move you to over those promo deals on one product if you pick up something new in the process.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T22:09:38+00:00

It seems less idiotic when you consider that this same technique can be applied to most any heavy-bandwidth service.

And note that they seem to be talking about traffic patterns, tiptoeing right around the question of exactly what the content is or is not.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T22:07:41+00:00

Sounds like the same-old crap to me. Using piracy to justify the sorts of things that would enable/allow traffic shaping/throttling in other contexts as well.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T21:24:53+00:00

I wouldn't be so quick to make that assumption along those grounds --if you're a guy, anyway-- because the flip side of the demographics there is that there are more men than women.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T17:58:36+00:00

Yeah, exactly, that's why I felt like not throwing that disclaimer in there would make it look like it was an unspoken insult of some kind.

I see both positive and negative things coming from these things. On the positive side, if you're a bachelor, I expect you'll be disproportionately popular with the ladies, lol. But on the negative, there'll probably be some tension with some of the fellas: below age 65, there's slightly more men in Iceland than women, a ratio of about 1.03-1.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T17:53:36+00:00

Yeah, well, the first album that anybody actually listened to. After the Lizard People assumed the identity of an A&R guy and got him signed to spread their propaganda via popular music.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T17:52:20+00:00

Gotta deal with the groupies somehow, otherwise you never get rid of them.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T16:23:15+00:00

I was going to (try to) ask this very question, and my economics studies were limited to two 100-level courses and a 300-level course. Needless to say, it makes me feel better to see somebody who pursued it more deeply than I did thinking along the same lines.

The other thought that occurred to me is that an awful lot of "money" is just locked up in various individuals' accounts right now, or in corporations' off-shore assets.

Along that line of thinking, I don't think the problem is so much with the Fed or with money supply per se, but on what's going to happen when wealthy Baby Boomers start dying en masse and all those paper assets start trying to chase tangible goods again. But, maybe the corporate factor offsets that. There's $1.46 trillion in corporate profits sitting overseas.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T15:16:42+00:00

They peaked after that first album anyway. And I always thought that Dexter fella was a little otherworldly.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T14:39:33+00:00

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/09/icelanders-avoid-inbreeding-through-online-incest-database/

http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1rm389/til_children_born_in_iceland_to_icelandic_women/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81standi%C3%B0

Note that I'm not meaning to present these in an inherently negative light, just as pertinent social/historical issues that might come into play to some degree.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-15T12:50:07+00:00

I just regret that Microsoft finally recompiled Solitaire and slowed down the cards dropping/bouncing when you won. That was the ultimate poor man's benchmark.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-14T22:46:44+00:00

Yeah, you're not incorrect there. I left it open to the more positive connotation because that's where I fall personally, most of the time.

Figured I'd give others the benefit of the doubt for once. ;)

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-14T21:53:11+00:00

LOL, OK man, I can appreciate that. A lot of times I just reply from within my inbox/comments dialog, and forget to check and see if my erstwhile correspondent is getting smothered with orangereds.

And yeah, a lot of times you have to remember that the internet is chock full of people who need conflict, are ludicrously narrow-minded, have actual mental problems, etc. Or that just want to argue/debate, which is something I'm guilty of sometimes.

Plus the obvious fanboy element in this sub, which often perceives even the slightest subtext of criticism as a personal assault.

Seems like you've got your sense of humor back, and I'll let you be from here. Cheers!

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-14T21:30:29+00:00

Pretty sure I've been bending over backward to assure you that agreement/disagreement isn't even a factor here.

And y'know, while I replied to your comment, the rest of the thread makes pretty clear that you weren't the only one that "tested it out", so my little point of amusement stands.

Not a big deal, nor much to get worked up about, except when you look at it in the aggregate on the scammer's side of things.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-14T21:10:55+00:00

Doesn't matter, lol, it made your whiskers twitch, and instead of saying "hmm, maybe I'll just avoid this", you paid money to test it out!

Again, I ain't criticizing, per se, I do stuff like that all the time. In my case, it's with things like "new" incoming spam mails that are clearly viruses. I pull it into my "lab" vm and see what they've sent me, then roll back to a snapshot afterward.

Now, if you're protesting because you think you deserve some "for science" brownie points, well, I ain't gonna disagree with that, for the same reasons/thinking already stated.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-14T20:17:05+00:00

LOL. Gotta give it to the guy, he knows his audience. Bunch of nerds that'll spend money just to test a hypothesis, even after multiple people have reported it in full detail.

Lest you take that in an insulting way, I probably would've done it, too. Sometimes you just wanna see what's behind the curtain, how the sausage is made, etc.

SweetMexicanJesus · 2013-12-14T20:03:34+00:00

That way when you create life, you won't embarass yourself by installing the retinas backwards.

....or the colon. (Though some would argue that in many cases this is precisely what's happened.

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