Theoretically this does already exist in AOE2, where in the custom lobbies players select the same player number/color and have total control of the same "player".
The backstabbing aspect would be difficult, with lobbies limited to 8 individuals, there would be a max of 4x paired "players" (e.g. pair1 & pair2 vs pair3 & pair4). If teams aren't locked like in FFA diplo matches it turns into a 3v1 (pair1, pair2, & pair3 vs pair4).
Unless the game could be modded to support lobbies > 12 or 16, the diplo aspect would be limited.
The primary point they are making is that the military is unlike a civilian job where you can quit and not show up tomorrow, the time remaining on your contract determines how long until your ETS date.
If you get sick of the green weenie in year two of your standard 4 year contract, you still have the threat of a less-than honorable discharge/UCMJ action forcing you to show up and put in a minimal effort.
Job satisfaction is huge civilian side, but is almost a foreign concept in the military--all until your retention counseling and you opt to renew your vows or chase that smart, young, DD214 hottie that just moved into town.
I also will be pleasantly surprised if AOE4's online multi is anywhere close to AOE2's scene.
Definitely managing my expectations due to what I've seen graphically regarding the micro/non-intuitive unit design as well as potential balancing issues due to the vastly divergent civ play styles/age-up mechanics (e.g. Mongol nomad movement & the dynasty system).
To add to this, the article mentions that half of the alleged 60k are SOF (~30k).
This includes units like the 75th Ranger Regiment, most likely the largest SOF organization. According to a quick glance at their Wiki task org, 14 of the 27 COs exist in either a support, command, or training capacity. This roughly breaks down to 50% of the entire Regiment, and the 75th should (in theory) have the highest ratio of trigger pullers to support personnel within the SOF world.
Additionally, most of these SOF organizations have other (more conventional) mission sets they would be supporting at the same time. It can also be assumed that less than half of an organization's personnel are deployed at any given time, while the remaining personnel remain stateside retraining and preparing for their rotation--leaving a relatively small percentage of the alleged 30k SOF personnel actively participating in clandestine operations.
Man, you're reading too far into my comment. I was just saying the sentence reads like:
A wealthy individual (WI) coming to his neighbors.
WI: "I'm worried your homes might be bought by individuals that affect my privacy, I know you don't intend to move, so let's make a deal that you can still live here and pay rent."
Neighbors: "Ok"
Random YC Comment: "(WI) left them in their homes, rather than reneging on his deal and casting them out of their familial homes to the street."
----
A Feudal Lord (FL) dies and his heir receives the fiefdom.
FL: "You are now my serfs and I've decided you may continue to live here and pay me a percentage of the crop yield, I am a generous lord."
Serf: "OK, m'lord"
Random YC Comment: "(FL) left the peasants in their huts like the generous lord he is."
---
A state industry has been privatized and is now owned by an Oligarch, to include the housing provided to the workers.
Oligarch: "Party land now my land, you may continue to live and work here to provide me profit, I am a generous businessman."
Worker: "ХОРОШО"
Random YC Comment: "The Oligarch left the workers in their housing, as long as it still provided him a profit."
Maybe I should have said he sounded like a feudal lord, it doesn't matter to me. I wasn't diving into the circumstances, just the phrasing of that last sentence I quoted.
Not just useless, but a major PITA when the next inventory rolls around and you have to find the individual sub-components of that "tech" when no one has any idea of what it looks like because it's never been used and ultimately serves no purpose.
Then if it somehow falls through the cracks, it's on the commanders shoulders to pay for that piece of high-speed unused tech that the lobbyist swore would revolutionize the battle-space.
It appears they know that; might just want to understand the scope of the data Matt provided and/or how in-depth the Automattic analytics are on self-hosted sites--which is something that I (as someone with a limited understanding of the platform) am interested in learning more about.
Exactly, a segment of social media users don't mind or are largely apathetic to the advertising/data collection because it keeps the platforms free--that's all that matters to them.
The advertisers are effectively the customer, with the social media platform acting as a vehicle to reach the willing end-user.
With this model, a polished & efficient dashboard/UI for advertiser engagement is as important (if not more important) than the front-end experience that provides end-user engagement.
Agreed, it's definitely Apple taking a step in the direction toward features I miss about Android.
Hope at one point they can behave like true widgets--really miss things like the Hue widget on my Galaxy allowing me to control preset lighting at the tap of a button, without needing to navigate through the app.
Maybe this can be done through shortcuts as well? Haven't really invested the time and effort to develop my understanding of shortcut's possibilities.
Instead should have mentioned his investment in Goldman--not BoA--during the financial crisis, which he did counting on the bailout that was passed shortly after.
I don't believe it's too much of a leap to conclude that back in 2008 it was as close as possible to a joint effort between BRK/Goldman/the-financial-powers-that-be to minimize the total obligation GS would have to the Treasury from TARP funds.
Read somewhere the TARP investment was repaid 8 months later by GS with 23% interest, whereas they repurchased BRK's preferred stock for a 10% premium in 2011. BRK's warrant redemption in 2013 is another story, but easier for GS to account for long term.
Your comment intrigued me, so I looked it up--I found it pretty interesting, so thanks for the inspiration.
Looks like one of the main factors is due to the soil acidity being similar to the pH of the plant roots. Also, while there is a ton of dead organic material in the soil, the high temperatures and precipitation causes it to decompose so rapidly that most of the nutrients are lost.
Finally, the clay particles in the soil are poor for trapping the minimal nutrients remaining from the decomposing material, and what is trapped is frequently washed away from the precipitation.
> This is essentially what’s happening to Warren Buffett right now who has a war chest is billions of dollars saved up during the good times that he’s ready to invest now. But it’s not as viable a strategy because the government props everyone up.
In all fairness, Berkshire Hathaway stepped in to bailout Bank of America. It obviously paid out handsomely for Buffett and Co. long term, just find it interesting to use as an example.
Exactly, this appears effective projecting the fixed budget for one specific tactic, on a product with geo or demo targeting limitations.
The blog post failed to mention that when scaled up there is much more in play than strictly consumer acquisition (e.g. brand awareness) that is just as important when marketing in most B2C verticals.
Good points, I basically use the same strategy with a few exceptions:
Re: #2 I don't like to focus on conversations related to occupation, I've found people start to open up much more if you focus on who they are/what they actually enjoy doing outside of work, since most people don't like to be defined by their occupation. The random outlier being they work full-time on something they are really passionate/care about, but that is fairly easy to figure out if they mention it as how they spend their free time, or in rare cases they mention it due to the position being (in their eyes) a status symbol e.g. my college friends on Wall Street in IB/PE.
Re: House/car values, I've found people get real weird discussing values and it's sort of 50/50 on commiserating with you/being annoyed about high living costs. Some people love humble-bragging that they can afford to live in/own property in a location 2x * U.S. Avg CoL, others get annoyed you are apparently bragging about your affordable location. One of those things you'd have to play close to the chest. I think it all comes down to if they mention hating the high CoL where they are and their desire to move.
This is exactly the case, while building out our mobile marketing strategies for higher end luxury brands, iPhone/Apple users have a much higher average HHI across the networks and are often worth the "premium" rates.
NBCu getting a hold of the Apple inventory was one of the smartest things they have done to offset consumer viewing habits (within key demographics) shifting away from linear towards OTT and Mobile devices.