A quarter century ago I briefly dated a stripper. She needed new posters to sell, but she couldn't afford a professional photographer and she wanted control of the masters. This was near the dawn of digital photography for consumers and I had a camera, so I agreed to take them. We did a shoot with a couple hundred photos. They weren't great, but it got the job done.

Shortly after that we stopped seeing each other. She asked me for the photos, and requested I delete them. I said yes. I burned the shots to two copies on CDs and gave them to her.

I did not delete them.

I never shared them with another soul, but I absolutely lied to her. I knew I was lying as I said it. And my reasons were up front and simple. Fast forward to me today, and the only difference is that today I'd be honest about not deleting them. I would promise to keep them private.

Now these brokers have a vastly stronger motive to lie. Money. Lots and lots of it. I guarantee you data that is "deleted" is just relocated. Even if there's no immediate plan for it, it will be hoarded. And there are so many ways to do it you cannot catch them.

"...priced considerably higher than customers might pay elsewhere..."
 

Of course they are. The world is awash with "idiot money", and a huge ecosystem is in place to capitalize on it. For decades I've lamented that I'm precluded from feasting at the trough by my basic moral character, which was developed through no fault of my own.

This family has no such barriers.

Well of course you use both systems. It's out of necessity. An ounce of cocaine is 28 grams. If you want an 8-ball of coke, your dealer should give you some combination of cocaine and filler that comes to 1/8 oz, or 3.5 grams.

If your foot isn't in both worlds, you're at a disadvantage.

The point does not stand. It's logically incoherent - as is yours. Nobody's saying any alcohol consumption will kill you. Your straw man is incorrect.

If you pick any one factor you can then say all the other ones drown it out. And so it's meaningless.

And what group are you comparing Muslims to? It has to be a group uniformly filled with drinkers, probably moderate to excessive. If that's not your comparison then I don't understand your point.

You miss the obvious (and intentional) reason.

In the US (to be fair, not just them) you can have as much "justice" as you can afford. They don't call it the dream team for nothing. If you can spend enough money, you can evade all manner of conviction. If you can't, you get stuck with minimum defense, if any. The public defender.

Justice is explicitly for sale. Nobody even pretends otherwise.

For sure. Don't mistake my objection for a complaint about the form. I'm saying modern audiobooks are usually consumed in a setting where something else is commanding some of the attention preemptively. If your attention is fully on it, I think the difference is negligible.

Although I think tea sucks in general, I also know some teas suck much worse than others. :) For instance, I don't hate some varieties of Chinese Green Tea. But would I go two steps out if my way for it on a chilly winter night? Nope.

Agreed. That's why I think they belong solidly in the second spot. And that's not to condemn audiobooks to some sort of distant inferior position. I think they have a great deal of merit, and your succinct point is well taken.

Actually, I regret catching Cliff's Notes in the crossfire. They had a specific purpose - to help students pass the tests. And I respect that. That goal is nicely contained, and honest,

Blinkist, on the other hand, is targeted directly at posers.

Pedantry at its finest. Technically correct, and fundamentally useless. By this extension, every beverage is some version of flavoured water. So the definition is meaningless. But well done. :)

Look, I have no beef with audio books. My gut tells me that a listener does not immerse in the material like a reader does, primarily because they're consuming while, driving, exercising, whatever... and when an interruption occurs, the stream might continue while the attention diverts, But at least audio books leave imagination some space. And imagination is mental muscle. It needs exercise, or it atrophies.

But what I really think is awful are the modern Cole's Notes services like Blinkist. These are lossy condensations. If you can't read a whole structured thought, then fuck off. Don't. But don't absorb a half assed version and pretend to understand it. That's the poser with the unblemished pickup truck in literary form. Or people thinking that watching "What the bleep do we know?" means they can have an informed opinion on physics,

So I think book > audiobook > most other stuff > summarization.

Yes, it's a generalization. But it's my starting point,

Honestly, that's where I sit on most divisive topics, especially when the US is involved. Except for the tea. Tea sucks. Seems like water that wants to be coffee, but can't commit.

The pedant in me finds it humorous that they needed to specify the false one, implying there must be a true Hindu God they could have immortalized instead. Or maybe they would have labeled any non-Christian God as false, despite Yahweh being just as implausible and conceptually younger. Of course my money would be on the latter.

What's extra entertaining to me is the fact that when a group excels at educational and financial outcomes, some people's reaction isn't to aspire to better, but to get rid of those people. That seems disappointing. I've never looked at a standout weightlifter in a gym and thought, "I can't do that. Clearly they have to go."

The course doesn't run $20,000 per student, at least not in the way the misleading question implies. The course seems to be offered for free, includes equipment. And even a "cost of living stipend". Apparently it costs Apple, the government, and a donor $20k per seat to provide it. But it's not education at scale, or in streamlined fashion. Of course it's going to be costly.

So the question doesn't include an important modifier. From whose perspective is it being asked? Is it worth it for the attendees? Probably. Is it worth it for the provider? What's the benefit in good will?