disconnect

The point of the textured cube analogy was that if you don't consider the context of the benchmark, the numbers aren't useful.

The kid doesn't realize that if texturing a cube brings a framerate down from 1200 to 800 fps, is as significant as going down from 62 fps down to 60. Even though that is only a 2 fps difference.

A 400% performance gain is a constant performance improvement. I don't think a system like nginx + memcached have linear performance benefits in the first place.

Sloppy thinking. Sloppy measurements.

If you have almost 1000 reqs/sec initially, that's 1ms per request. By bringing this down by the amazing 400% (!!) percent you've shaved off 3/4th of a milisecond per request. Congratulations - you have no idea what you've been measuring. Just the way in which the request is logged can make a 5ms difference. Insignificant and completely uninteresting.

Back when 3d game programming was cool, people would get a rotating cube and show off their 1200 fps frame rate. Of course they would get upset that by adding a texture to the cube the framerate dropped by 400 frames to 800 fps. "Textures are slow!", they'd say. Yeah, right...

The credit card companies will eventually get their money - it will just be painful for them. They have to send a bunch of warnings, get a collection agency involved, and so on. If somebody goes bankrupt the CC company won't get its money back, so the rates then become irrelevant.

You argue that the pain to the credit card companies will ultimately end up at the doorstep of those who do pay off their debt. And to some extend, that's true. But I don't think it's as bad as you make it sound.

Let's take an analogy. When amazon offers free shipping, are you upset when you live close to their distribution center so that you (effectively) pay a higher price for the product? After all, the money for the shipping has to come from some place, and if shipping to your house is relatively inexpensive, then you're subsidizing the shipping costs of others. It's not really something anybody would worry about. Implicitly subsidizing others happens all the time, and I think that it averages out pretty well.

Besides, when people go bankrupt because they borrow money irresponsibly, the society as a whole also suffers. So preventing unnecessary bankruptcy is a good thing. And CC companies make it hard for people to get higher caps on their CC to minimize their own risk. And everybody benefits from that.

"I missed three credit card payments, and now the credit card company has raised the interest rate from 16% up to 28%! That should be illegal!"

Where I live the national limit on interest for Credit Cards is 16%, no ifs, no buts. If credit card companies benefit when people miss their payments they have an incentive to give credit cards to people who can't afford them. This, in turn, reduces the general level of prosperity in the country.

So, why do you think it -should- be legal for CC companies to raise the interest rates to absurd levels?

Micropayment systems have a long history of failing, and chances are this one won't be different.

Just for fun: take a closer look at the screenshot of the virtual check: 00 dollars and 00/100 Cents. 00/100 Cents. Milicents. Yes. Although technically correct in this case of 0 (mili)cents, it doesn't build confidence.