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“Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

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Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#51

Post by sp332 »

beaconstudios wrote: post #48
sp332 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not arguing from first principles here. Workforce participation is down. This is just a symptom. I'm not against having free time, but against companies who ask you to work for them for free. If people had the ability to make money with their time and effort, that guy would be more likely to be paid for his post.

SE provides a venue for these types of discussions, and in exchange does a small amount of advertising to make the venture profitable. How is that exploitative in any sense of the word? Do you have the same attitude towards social clubs that charge fees?

I don't go to SE for the "venue". I usually get there via a Google search, which means the only draw is the content. And hopefully Google would give me the same info if it were on any other site that paid their writers.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#52

Post by Latty »

thearn4 wrote: post #17
CJefferson wrote: post #2

This is the kind of deep investigation of a super specific issue I always enjoy reading. This is what I thought the internet would be, 20 years ago.

It's a shame that the internet devolved into cat pictures, pervasive advertisements, and political shouting matches. On the other hand, there are still some great communities out there for great discussion. I consider HN to be one of them.

It didn't devolve - it expanded. There is still plenty of great content out there, it's just mixed with a lot of other content of varying quality.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#53

Post by Latty »

Luc wrote: post #34

The top answer is a picture of the use of Yxa in a Swedish alphabet learning book, yet there's still people here clinging to the yellow paint tube theory. Incredible. Not sure what cognitive bias is at play here (or more charitably: perhaps they didn't scroll down). EDIT: Some say these are pictures of a paint tube and some yellow paint: https://jimthechairmaker.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/my-carving... The fact that an…

That top answer is hardly conclusive - it's definitely a possibility, but given the weird choices in the art for the "axe" (bendy handle, not a defined edge at the bottom) - I buy it could have been a yellow paint tube.

Nouns beginning with Y are not exactly easy to come across (the official "Yo-Yo" is hardly as common as the other words on the ball), and as has been pointed out, it's entirely possible the art was worked on by multiple people and changed or whatever.

Maybe the wrong-language thing is more likely (the U-boat choice is the thing that makes me lean this way the most), but I don't think the yellow paint tube idea is completely impossible.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#54

Post by vardump »

Luc wrote: post #34

The top answer is a picture of the use of Yxa in a Swedish alphabet learning book, yet there's still people here clinging to the yellow paint tube theory. Incredible. Not sure what cognitive bias is at play here (or more charitably: perhaps they didn't scroll down). EDIT: Some say these are pictures of a paint tube and some yellow paint: https://jimthechairmaker.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/my-carving... The fact that an…

Sounds like you didn't read through the whole story. This particular ball is not made by the Swedish company.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#55

Post by clarkmoody »

sp332 wrote: post #23
CJefferson wrote: post #2

This is the kind of deep investigation of a super specific issue I always enjoy reading. This is what I thought the internet would be, 20 years ago.

It's a sign of a "cognitive surplus", because we have more educated people now than we have jobs for them to do. Also it's a sign of how these sites get people to work for them for free, and concentrate huge amounts of other people's work for their own benefit. This poster got nothing for all that work, but SE still gets advertising revenue driven by interest in the content.

> This poster got nothing for all that work

Not all utility is money. The poster voluntarily spent time and energy creating that response, and voluntary exchange is mutually beneficial. So the poster got something for all that work, but it wasn't money.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#56

Post by auserperson »

thearn4 wrote: post #17
CJefferson wrote: post #2

This is the kind of deep investigation of a super specific issue I always enjoy reading. This is what I thought the internet would be, 20 years ago.

It's a shame that the internet devolved into cat pictures, pervasive advertisements, and political shouting matches. On the other hand, there are still some great communities out there for great discussion. I consider HN to be one of them.

It is not a shame the internet devolved into cat pictures, the rest it is.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#59

Post by [deleted] »

vardump wrote: post #54
Luc wrote: post #34

The top answer is a picture of the use of Yxa in a Swedish alphabet learning book, yet there's still people here clinging to the yellow paint tube theory. Incredible. Not sure what cognitive bias is at play here (or more charitably: perhaps they didn't scroll down). EDIT: Some say these are pictures of a paint tube and some yellow paint: https://jimthechairmaker.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/my-carving... The fact that an…

Sounds like you didn't read through the whole story. This particular ball is not made by the Swedish company.

[deleted]

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#60

Post by nomgal »

metaphor wrote: post #29
ninjakeyboard wrote: post #15

Tube of paint squeezing out some yellow sounds reasonable.

25 physical. 1 abstract. Internet throws Occam's razor out the window.

25 English, 1 Swedish.

I see no harm in overthinking things considering the subject is rather amusing. I see an axe.

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