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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?”

#91

Post by beaconstudios »

sp332 wrote: post #84
beaconstudios wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but that implies that content is the only valuable thing, and distribution and hosting are negligible. If anything, it's the other way around - content is abundant and quality distribution is the hard problem. That's the reason the marketing industry is one of the largest around. If people want to try to make money from their Q&As they can post them on their own site and either charge for access or advertise, but the…

Right, that's pretty much my whole point. Money gets concentrated. Employment is low.

yeah - people who provide services become successful. It's a pretty good system as long as we can keep the less successful people out of poverty. Equality of outcome is possibly the worst idea in history.

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

#92

Post by mnarayan01 »

iak8god wrote: post #61
Latty wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wo…

> Nouns beginning with Y are not exactly easy to come across There are a lot of animals on this ball. How about "Yak"?

A semi-esoteric bovid does not strike me as easily distinguishable given the style of the illustrations.

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

#93

Post by dahart »

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…

There's no proof yet, so your judgement is speculative and presumptuous, even if the right answer turns out to be Yxa. The top answer is awesome, and probably right, but who knows for sure? Do you? It's top because of popularity and not because he solved it. Since all answers including the top answer suppose this was a mistake, it's easy to imagine it being the result of a stupid mistake as opposed to one that feels rational. If this turned out to be a stupid mistake and that yellow or something other than Yxa is the right answer, will you reflect on where the cognitive bias lies?

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

#94

Post by esrauch »

mindcrime wrote: post #81
sp332 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 What's your basis for this claim? I can see saying "this poster received no financial compensation for all this work" but that's a different claim. It seems to me that the poster must have received somethingp[1], or they would not have put the effort forth in the first place. [1]: where "something" could be self-satisfaction, ego-boost, intellectual gratification, or any numb…

I think your line of thinking only implies the poster believed that he would receive a rewards, not that he did receive a reward (he may have regretted doing the work afterwards).

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

#95

Post by IronBacon »

pouetpouet wrote: post #74
peterkelly wrote: post #49

This reminds me of the scene in Silicon Valley where Peter Gregory notices the popularity of Burger King, the number of sesame seeds they use, and remembers that sesame seeds only grow in Myanmar, Brazil, and Indonesia - the former two of which have large Cicada populations that emerge at different times. After some research, he finds that this is about to occur simultaneously in both countries for the first time in…

which episode?

First season, third episode: "Articles of Incorporation". What did I won? ^__^;

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

#96

Post by collinmanderson »

jpcosta wrote: post #12
nothis wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure we had stuff like that in 1997!

I would love to see a deep investigation proving/disproving this point

Somewhat related: USENET's culture was destroyed as early at 1993.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

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

#97

Post by piaste »

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.

Isn't that a bit like saying that night clubs get their cooler / more attractive patrons to work for them for free, by attracting the wider masses?

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

#98

Post by iak8god »

mnarayan01 wrote: post #92
iak8god wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nouns beginning with Y are not exactly easy to come across There are a lot of animals on this ball. How about "Yak"?

A semi-esoteric bovid does not strike me as easily distinguishable given the style of the illustrations.

"Toddler Words | Words Starting With Y" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuR7ao20nko

Yogurt, Yak, Yam, Yarn. There really just aren't a lot of options.

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

#99

Post by bradleyjg »

peterkelly wrote: post #49

This reminds me of the scene in Silicon Valley where Peter Gregory notices the popularity of Burger King, the number of sesame seeds they use, and remembers that sesame seeds only grow in Myanmar, Brazil, and Indonesia - the former two of which have large Cicada populations that emerge at different times. After some research, he finds that this is about to occur simultaneously in both countries for the first time in…

That reminds me of a scene from Liar's Poker, I wonder if it was the inspiration:

Remember Chernobyl? When news broke that the Soviet nuclear reactor had exploded, Alexander called. Only minutes before, yet Alexander had already bought the equivalent of two supertankers of crude oil. The focus of investor attention was on the New York Stock Exchange, he said. In particular it was on any company involved in nuclear power. The stocks of those companies were plummeting. Never mind that, he said. He had just purchased, on behalf on his clients, oil futures. Instantly in his mind less supply of nuclear power equaled more demand for oil, and he was right. His investors made a large killing.

Minutes later, Alexander called back. “Buy potatoes,” he said. “Gotta hop.” Then he hung up. Of course. A cloud of fallout would threaten European food and water supplies, including the potato crop, placing a premium on uncontaminated American substitutes. Perhaps a few folks other than potato farmers think of the price of potatoes in America minutes after the explosion of a nuclear reactor in Russia, but I have never met them.

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