Re: Amateurs.
The LG event seems like a tame Tuesday morning in Detroit during an ice storm.
However, here in the US people have a sense of security/lawsuit and I cannot imagine bb guns and knives on sticks being allowed in.
1116 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Aug 2011
"understand what is likely to happen when a 'free market, capitalist' economy is unleashed onto a previously 'socialist' society."
If western politicians and bureaucrats and citizens have no clue about free market economics, why would the powerbrokers in a Communist nation get it?
"... or Premier League footie, a global phenomenon that absorbs every country in[!] the planet."
However, for those of us who have left the caves and are not fearful of an angry sun god, we've moved on to more interesting sports, like javelin catching and watching cars rust.
[Honestly, I've given soccer/football/Italian-injury-acting a good honest try three or four times in about as many decades, but it just doesn't work for me. If you enjoy it, fine, but I do get miffed when people act like I *must* love it.]
... is that in the USA, people can sue without threat of consequence. If a judge/jury had a way of saying "No, you're an idiot and this lawsuit is ridiculous because it's your own fault" and Apple had a way to countersue to get damages because the judge/jury said "No, you're an idiot and this lawsuit is ridiculous because it's your own fault", then these sorts of things would stop, or really slow down. However, that would mean less work for lawyers, and America has a legal system of the lawyer, by the lawyer, for the lawyer. The lawyers won't let there be less work for the ABA members.
Once we have personal responsibility in the law, or rather punishment for refusing to admit one's own lack thereof, then we can move on to the civil service. So once again, that ain't happening.
These things happen. I bought a GMC pickup many years ago right before another GMC dealer went out of business and had a big sale. I could have saved $4K on a $17K truck. If I had known, I could have saved a lot of money, but I didn't know. Still, it was a good truck and I got my money's worth.
Except that modern race horses have been selectively bred for speed over 1.5 miles. They haven't been bred for survival against the kind of predators that existed four million years ago. So while those ancient horses were probably bigger, stronger, tougher, etc, they likely weren't as fast. Nor were they likely as willing to have simians on their backs.
... isn't companies and individuals paying as little tax as possible. The real problem is the bloated, wasteful, porkful bureaucracy that does nothing but consume resources from people who are actually DOING something in this world.
Seriously, if half the government bureaucrats disappeared tomorrow, what harmful effect would it have on honest working people? You could argue, rather convincingly, that it would improve things.
It's part of the "halo effect" that the iPod had. People get an iPod, like the design and how it works. Then they think "You know, Apple did a good job on this, I wonder what their computers are like."
The Linux and Windows core fans dismissed this at the time, but Apple sales data and survey data sure back up the idea.
Also, the -2% vs -11% is not to be sneezed at.
"Who is it who keeps DOING that? Must be the umpteeninth time AAPL've been having their going-out-of-business sale."
The MacObserver has kept a count of these things for years in their Apple Death Knell Counter. http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/death_knell/ Amazing what people have predicted, even the editor-in-chief once.
"The market needs to see some evidence that the future looks bright because that candle is flickering.”
I wish my company's candle flickered that bad ...
No one can constantly be 100% on top of their game. Analysts and financial drones may wonder what's wrong, but sometimes you have to take a period of retrenchment to get things right. And considering how Jobs' last year and illness may have affected Apple, that time of uncertainty and distraction might have just shown up in the marketplace this last quarter.
I am by no means wealthy, but between income tax, property tax, sales tax, airport tax, license plates and drivers' licenses (which I consider fair use taxes, but still), and extra taxes on gas, restaurants, tickets, .... we probably spend over half of our income on taxes. And I do not think the US taxpayers are getting value for money.
Enough is enough. Our government has been getting more and more expensive, evasive, and big brotherish since 1912, with a brief respite during the 20s. And I for one would be happy to spend a winter or three at Valley Forge in an attempt to get rid of the political fatcats and their bureaucratic drones.
The scary thing is we live in a relatively low-tax area; for having an NBA and NFL team, good museaums, good restaurants, etc, Indianapolis is quite affordable and taxed pretty lightly. I know the offers I've had in places like Boston, New York, and San Francisco; I have no idea how middle class people live there.
All that being said, Obama's proposal for domestic drone use is a very serious and worrying thing. The US government does not have a great track record with respect to privacy, and add in that our current prez is an Ivy Leaguer, former wall streeter, Chicago machine politician, and lawyer, and you can see why I have my doubts.
"for a supposedly business friendly country the US is very good at cartels that work against end users and new business entrants "
Because our lobbyists and politicians are very good at "plausible dediability" when cash flows and are very good at sneaking in items in important bills that no politician would dare vote against. There was a joke/rumor going around that the reason the relief for Hurricane Katrina took so long to be released was that they needed to figure out the path a new interstate in West Virginia first.
"Apple stuff is just horrible,"
I realize this is probably flame-bait, but I can tell you from personal experience that Apple hardware, while not perfect, is pretty darn good. I'm trying to think of the man-years my Macs have run in useful service, and it has to be more than sixty. I recently sent my Performa 631-CD, from 1995, to a recycler, but it still ran fine with no hitch. The only problem I've had is that one fan bearing went bad after about 7 years of heavy use, a couple mice got worn out after that amount of time, and an original (mac-only, Firewire-only) iPod's battery has gone phut after ten years.
You can call them overpriced, but I've found them damn reliable and trouble-free, and surely that is worth something (unless your time is worthless).
I wish my Wintel junk I've been given for work were that horrible ...