No, it's because the population is undergoing a massive growth spurt since the Generation X-ers, who were born following an earlier growth spurt, grew up and had children in the early/mid 90s.

That is....shockingly incisive. Mod parent up.

Risking their business model is not up for discussion to begin with- I highly, highly doubt FB would do anything to counter this. The site has been blocked in several countries with no meaningful action done by FB to get it unblocked, as that can rope them into a quagmire of politics.

However, I respectfully disagree regarding the impact of even a .5% market segment; the user growth rate is pretty damn high, which adds for more impact beyond the bare number.

http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/09/14/facebook-grows-in-egypt-morocco-saudi-arabia-but-faces-challenges-ahead/

16% in just three months? About 64% annually...not a bad growth rate, and one that probably won't slow down until something close to ubiquitous market penetration is achieved (MySpace still holds a fragment of the Saudi social networking market. Go figure), given the demographics of the country.

Not sure if I would call 2.5 million users a minuscule market. A full 10% of the country is subscribed to FB

http://www.internetworldstats.com/middle.htm

And SA is a very, very young country, demographically speaking. The national median age is 21. IIRC the 15-25 age bracket is the most populated one in Saudi.

That said, I highly doubt there will be any pressure going on here; quickly-reversed blocking of websites like FB has happened before. Imageshack and Wikipedia have been blocked for a while, then promptly unblocked.

Doubt it. It wasn't blocked in SA when the much, MUICH more publicized draw mohammed day was going on.

<quote><p>You want to open this "bigot's" mind? Find me a list of imams who support the United States of America, and the freedoms that we enjoy. I challenge. Put your money where your mouth is.</p></quote>

Sure, allow me.

http://www.unc.edu/~kurzman/terror.htm

You'll find in there the statements of some of (if not THE) highest modern Islamic authorities as they condemn terrorism in all its forms.

<quote><p>You want to open this "bigot's" mind? Find me a list of imams who support the United States of America, and the freedoms that we enjoy. </p></quote>

Sure, allow me.

http://www.unc.edu/~kurzman/terror.htm

You'll find in there the statements of some of (if not THE) highest modern Islamic authorities as they condemn terrorism in all its forms.

You mistake the urging to be willingly civil for the abridgment of your rights.

Actually, no-one said that martyrs are to get 72 virgins either. If you go to the root of the myth, its origin is a VERY weakly sourced saying attributed to Muhammad via a chain of half a dozen narrators.

And what is said was that the person who got the smallest reward in heaven would get, among a lot of other things, 72 Houri (the word sometimes translated as Virgins, but almost certainly refers to non-human creatures of divine beauty, etc). Keep in mind that this isn't supposed to be what was promised to martyrs, but to those who were able to stop themselves from being such assholes to other people that they barely didn't get tossed into hell.

Joe Kucan's brilliant yet over-the-top acting practically makes the Tiberian series for me. His personality in real life is pretty fun too, judging by the interviews I've seen.

"It would be a sad error in judgment, General Solomon, to mistake me for a corpse."

I've been using it for the better part of the past two weeks. And I'm pretty satisfied with the service. Although I live in Saudi Arabia, which is...a bit far from Oregon.

I pay about $190 for a six-month subscription at 2 megabit. ~$30 a month. 2 megabit is the maximum speed they offer, but it's not bad at all- only slightly more expensive than ADSL (which goes all the way up to 20mbit, but costs an arm and a leg at that tier), and I get a ~150ms ping on US servers. More than adaquate for gaming.

Thing is, the service has been trumpeted out for eons now. Well, since 2004 or so at least. I had long given up on practical residential WiMAX as vaporware, until earlier this year when the service was rolled out in earnest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza#Burakumin

Discrimination = Bad news. When honest people are forced out of honest jobs because of petty race or ancestry issues, they invariably turn either to immigration or the underworld.

Thing is, this might be creating an excuse for those carrying a prejudice against Burakumin; "Marry our daughter? Hell no. Er, no, of course it's not because you're Burakumin, we're progressive like that. It's just that your family might have Yakuza links! Yeah, that's it, honest."

The MotionPlus if fine and dandy (Though only grudgingly accepted by me since I think the original Wiimote should have been more accurate to begin with), but why not build a WiimotePlus? In other words, same Wiimote form factor, MotionPlus accuracy. Maybe some cosmetic change to differentiate it from the normal Wiimote, too.

*Wakes up, brushes teeth*

*Makes coffee*

*Check Slashdot, reads about steel-cutting bacon swords*

I see. Apparently I did not, in fact, adequately complete the first step in my regular morning routine. That is, waking up.

Pardon my coarseness, but where the HELL have you ever read about Zombie Hymens?! That's just freaky.

And yes, sexual reward does indeed factor into the equation. It's not paramount, but it's a factor. Think about the early days of the spread of Islam; what do you think that half-illiterate pagan warrior tribes would have found more appealing in exchange for adopting a strict moral system that seriously cramped their hedonistic style; the promise of salvation, and the notion of the general benefit to mankind of them not being assholes, or the promise of poontang and luxury in the hereafter?