What I don't get...

[Ryllharu]

Take the price of something, let's say DS wants to buy a video game.

That game costs $59.99 in the US. Converting that price would make it cost €44.80. The VAT for his country is 19%. That makes the game now cost €53.76. So they round it back up to €59.99 for the practical and psychological factors that Kraco was talking about.

It isn't a coincidence, it's silly economics.

Now, Australian and Canadian prices, those are bullshit. Australia's GST is lower than the European VATs, and our currencies are about equal these days. Games that are $60 in the US are $80 in Australia! Canada's taxes are lower than that, yet a book for instance that is $8 USD still lists for $11 CAD.

[Buffalobiian]

There was an article that I was reading that accused the Australian gaming retailers being a cartel. Can't find it anymore though.

But it's only in semi-recent times that our currency has been on par with the US. It used to be more like 1AUD=0.7USD or something. Perhaps they're doing the same sort of rounding just because they can (and they think we're used to it enough that we won't give a shit)?

[Sapphire]

What Haru and Kraco said makes sense. Thanks guys.

It really is trippy going to London and seeing things as all the SAME numerical price as it would be here in the US. (But my dollar still only buys half as much... lol...)

[Xelbair]

Take the price of something, let's say DS wants to buy a video game.

That game costs $59.99 in the US. Converting that price would make it cost €44.80. The VAT for his country is 19%. That makes the game now cost €53.76. So they round it back up to €59.99 for the practical and psychological factors that Kraco was talking about.

It isn't a coincidence, it's silly economics.

Now, Australian and Canadian prices, those are bullshit. Australia's GST is lower than the European VATs, and our currencies are about equal these days. Games that are $60 in the US are $80 in Australia! Canada's taxes are lower than that, yet a book for instance that is $8 USD still lists for $11 CAD.

Did you remove VAT from the US price too? seems not.

[Ryllharu]

We don't have a VAT. We have sales tax (which is a different), and they are much lower than Europe's VATs. Several of our states don't have a sales tax at all. Buying online generally has no taxes.

edit: Highest sales taxes in the US (which includes additional county/city/municipality taxes) is maxed out at 11.5%. Lowest as previously mentioned, is 0%.

[rockmanj]

And as my English friends have explained to me, the purchasing power of a pound in England would be analogous to the purschasing power of a Dollar in the US. I believe the others explained the economics behind it.

[Animeniax]

I don't get it, but I don't like to rewatch movies/tv series, even if I loved them the first time. It's like I feel there's so many other things to experience/view, so why waste time rewatching something I've already seen, even though there's not that much on TV worth seeing. I know people who rewatch movies 10 times and know lines by heart. I can't bring myself to watch most movies/TV series episodes more than once.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't get it, but I don't like to rewatch movies/tv series, even if I loved them the first time. It's like I feel there's so many other things to experience/view, so why waste time rewatching something I've already seen, even though there's not that much on TV worth seeing. I know people who rewatch movies 10 times and know lines by heart. I can't bring myself to watch most movies/TV series episodes more than once.

It comes down to whether you think there are better things to watch I suppose.

Like.. when I was a kid, I had all these video tapes that I just rewatched and rewatched and rewatched.. there wasn't terribly much on TV..

..and I knew everything line by line.

These days my scope is bigger and I have more access to new material, so I don't really rewatch shows for that reason.

That said, I do revisit epic moments of new anime episodes a few times after they air occasionally.

[Animeniax]

I imagine there are better things to watch, but in reality there aren't. But even then, it's like replaying video games to me. If you've played through once, maybe twice at most, then any further run-throughs seem like a waste of time that could be spent doing something more useful.

[rockmanj]

I don't really get why...hmm, it is hard to explain it, but I have had a lot of strange and finny things happen to me, and when I tell people these hilarious stories, usually everyone enjoys them but afterward women make me out to be bizarre, even though I am not really doing anything that strange. I wish I knew what was going on.

[Kraco]

I don't get it, but I don't like to rewatch movies/tv series, even if I loved them the first time.

I do. When you rewatch a quality show or movie for the second time, you'll catch a lot of things that escaped you the first time through, because you were initially captivated by the larger things on screen. After that, though, it's clearly a personal taste. For some reason I can enjoy watching stuff even though I know precisely what's going to happen next. Maybe even because of that. Sometimes I find myself wanting to watch something I know to be jolly good beforehand, not something unknown to me. Like Bill said, epic moments are still epic, no matter how many times you've seen them. Good writing in general still remains good.

[Xelbair]

We don't have a VAT. We have sales tax (which is a different), and they are much lower than Europe's VATs. Several of our states don't have a sales tax at all. Buying online generally has no taxes.

edit: Highest sales taxes in the US (which includes additional county/city/municipality taxes) is maxed out at 11.5%. Lowest as previously mentioned, is 0%.

11.5%? damnit - VAT for most stuff over here is 23%, only stuff like bread etc has 8% VAT... not to mention 47%(yes, forty seven percent) tax on your all earnings - literal translation would be 'social insurance tax'.. that should theoretically go to your retirement pension...but you'll be lucky if you get 10% back of it..

[Ryllharu]

not to mention 47%(yes, forty seven percent) tax on your all earnings - literal translation would be 'social insurance tax'.. that should theoretically go to your retirement pension...but you'll be lucky if you get 10% back of it..

Our Income Tax and all the benefits programs like Medicare, or Social Security (which is a parody of a "retirement pension" for people like me, who will never get anything out of what we put into it) total to approximately 33%. My 401k/Roth Retirement fund is separate, 6% on top of that. As is health insurance, but that's a separate issue.

So it's not too far off there at least. Mine just gets wasted by the government more efficiently.

[XanBcoo]

Google Image Search "Christmas tree"

Pictures of real trees (the most common result is the fir tree):



Alongside artistic depictions of trees:



Branches up or branches down??

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE BRANCHES?

I feel like I've stumbled onto the Davinci Code of Christmas Trees. Every image is like this.

[Ryllharu]

Branches up or branches down??

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE BRANCHES?

I feel like I've stumbled onto the Davinci Code of Christmas Trees. Every image is like this.

(At least for the two images you've chosen) It's called...gravity. Ornaments are heavy, they weigh the branches of many species down.

[XanBcoo]

Branches up


up


up


Even the most heavily ornamented branches maintain an upward or outward appearance. All the cartoony trees look like they're flying through a wind tunnel.

I think the ubiquitous image of the tree has colored the reality of the situation. I just asked my brother and my friend which way Christmas tree branches pointed. "Down" was their answer.

[rockmanj]

Branches up


up


up


Even the most heavily ornamented branches maintain an upward or outward appearance. All the cartoony trees look like they're flying through a wind tunnel.

I think the ubiquitous image of the tree has colored the reality of the situation. I just asked my brother and my friend which way Christmas tree branches pointed. "Down" was their answer.

Be careful...the christmas people tree will get on your case. You don't want that shit.

[Ryllharu]

Depends on the species. Scotch Pine is popular too (though I think they're ugly).

Many branches down.



Or in their natural state, also drooping branches, since snow is even heavier.

[XanBcoo]

It must be the snow thing. Even in that first picture many of the branches extend upward, and most of the cartoony trees appear to be firs, rather than pines.

Edit: Fuckers!

[Animeniax]

I imagine it's like depictions of hair in anime:

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