The fact in my sample size of 4 of the Envy systems at my work, we had 3 defective? The Envy laptops are complete steaming festering floater turds, based on what I've seen.
Look, my sample size of Apple Computers in my life is exactly zero, so I'm not commenting on their build quality, or lack thereov as suggested by the article.
Actually, the comment by parent (somewhat) stands.
Yes, Apple will cost more than a similarly equipped PC.
On the ultra-low end...well, Apple doesn't have an "Ultra-low end" - so you can get a $400 PC vs a $1000 MacBook, and you scream "Look! CHEAPER!" - but the included parts in the PC are all, well, cheaper too. The plastic is cheaper, the screen is cheaper, just about everything is cheaper. THe PC will be loaded with bloatware and a ton of Intel Inside and other such design sticker bullshit. The body will be plastic, not Aluminum. The list goes on and on.
On the ultra-high end...without going to an OEM type build, I ran a fully equipped MBP vs everyone else's web stores when last year's MBP refresh hit. Apple came out $250 more than a similarly equipped Dell, and actually $23 LESS than a similarly equipped HP. (Granted, these are webstore prices and not Amazon/Newegg/etc which I know are better...but doing a direct-from-manufacturer compare here). Add in the fact that there is percisely NO bloatware on an Apple, no stickers, no other cost-cutting-for-PC-maker bullshit, and well...the Apple isn't that bloated price-wise. Throw in an Apple student discount (which is SO ungodly easy to get it may as well be available to everyone) and well...the build quality of the Apple makes up for the 10% or less increased cost.
Sure...you will ALWAYS be able to buy a cheapass PC, and said Cheapass PC will always be cheaper than the lowest of Apple's offerings. But for some of us quality is as important as the specifications, and no $400 Craptop will ever compare to the quality behind an Apple build. Period.
I'm sorry, but as royally fucked up as the system is today...I can't imagine the rule of law being passed directly to The People.
Seriously...think about how fucking retarded the average person is. Now give them a direct vote and say in EVERYTHING.
Imagine if you will the army of Glen Beck/Sarah Palin worshippers being whipped into a fucking frenzy when the next gay marriage/stem cell research/whatever comes up & they're the only fuckers that show up. Or imagine a frenzy of Libertarian Freetards coming online en-masse when NASA's budget comes up for a vote. Imagine a bunch of hippie leftists coming out huge and giving all the illegals in Arizona free citizenship. No matter the issue...the people that froth at the mouth about it are always the only ones that show up.
Sorry...but Democracy is the worst form of government on the planet, except for all the other forms of government. In some ways...it is barely tolerable that these un-informed politically-polarized morons get to vote once every four years...imagine an America where the issues are decided by the biggest fucking nutjobs. Fuck that shit.
We do need to fix the system...but direct democracy is a fast path to fucking us all harder than the corrupt politicians do today.
I surmise that the slot machines, or at least progressive (and networked) slot machines, are deterministic to a point. The House knows about when the jackpot will be paid out and where. They're not totally random, and they do want to not pay off several huge jackpots in a short span of time.
Nope, not the case, because that WOULD be illegal. Every single roll of the random number generator must legally be "random" (or as pseudo-random as random number generators are capable of getting), which basically means every spin has to have the exact same 1 in whatever chance of hitting the jackpot.
The "joy" of these progressive machines though is simply...the house always wins, even if they had a sudden rash of wins in a short period of time, because the jackpot re-seeds at some arbitrairly low-ish number, not at the same amount as was just paid out. The permutations and house edge % programmed into the payout tables for the RNG take care of generating re-seed money.
Basically, the algorithms are all in place, and all this is stitistically accounted for. The principle of gambling is that in the short term, every game/slot machine/etc has a chance of you hitting a jackpot, and/or winning some money, over losing. In a small number of trials, any statistically improbable event can happen. In the long term (millions and millians of trials) the house takes anywhere from 1 to 20% per trial.
Bottom line, end of the day...if someone is determined enough to die in order to bring down an aircraft, then no amount of scanners or pat-downs are going to stop them. As stated many times before...the next step will be surgical implantation, a method which would defeat everything we have at the moment. All of this so-called security is based on our reaction to failed attempts. Do you really think they're going to do the same failed attack again?
On the other side...we're spending millions and/or billions of dollars buying equipment that as far as we all know have prevented exactly 0 terrorist attacks from happening. We're standing idly by while our rights are being stripped away because we're comitting the high crime of travelling by aircraft. And worse, in my own opinion, is so many people don't seem to give a shit.
They accept this because they still live in fear. Hence my false dichotomy - I'd rather die free than live in fear. I value security, and anything that the TSA/DHS can do to make travel safer which doesn't involve me ignoring the 4th ammendment I'm fully in support of. But I'm not going to live in fear of the next attack either.
If we live in fear, then they win even if we are never successfully attacked again. If we live free, then they lose even if they successfully attack.
I fly all the time as well...or, to phrase it better...I used to fly alot before the TSA and DHS decided that the 4th Ammendment is null and void while proceeding through a security checkpoint at an airport.
Yesterday, before the Porn Scan and/or Freedom Fondle, I had approximately a 1 in 25,000,000 chance (Soruce: TFA) of dying in a terrorist attack on the plane.
Today, with the Porn Scan and/or Freedom Fondle, I have an approximate 1 in 25,000,000 chance (Source: TFA) of dying in a terrorist attackon the plane.
So between yesterday and today, I have gained nothing & lost my rights.
Sounds like a fair trade to me. Personally, I'd rather die free than live in fear. But that's me.
Independants/3rd party candidates are all but un-electable.
I mean sure, one or two slip in from time to time. But the majority of the time, by supporting a 3rd party candidate you are directly syphoning votes away from the person who is the "lesser of two evils" in your mind, making it easier for the "greater of two evils" to get the most votes.
Not to mention having many parties just fucks to hell with the vote. Here in Canada, a haven of multi-party politics, our last election the ruling party got 37% of the vote. 37-fucking-percent.
Remember the uproar when George won with 47% of the vote in 2000? Selected, not elected? Imagine he got the presidency with 37% of the popular vote. People would freak the fuck out.
Don't get me wrong...I think multi-party is better than the 2-party system that ya'all have. But to make it work in the US, IMHO you'll have to entirely overhaul the entire electoral system. Otherwise you're just asking for chaos.
Light Peak is a design that is intended to replace the myriad of bus technologies present in the average computer.
For example...in my current rig, I have IDE, SATA (both 1.5 and 3gb versions, no SATA/6Gb),eSATA, USB & Firewire.
Light Peak is an optical technology eventually destined to replace all these different specifications into one 10GB/s-capable-today bus, with speeds expected to reach 100GB/s+ by 2020.
The truth is, no-one wants a slow, cramped and wimpy go-kart (except for some hippies). People want a practical and fun car. If you force these shopping carts on us, we will just start buying more light trucks (eww).
I want a car that gets me from point A to point B by maintaining a steady 5mph over the speed limit in the cheapest and most economical manner possible. I'm also a 6' man that doesn't want to mash my head against the roof of the car.
I have no issue with the crop of crappy front wheel drive cars on the market today. I have managed to find vehicles that aren't cramped dungeons with room for my family all while being crappy front wheel drive cars without even being entirely boring.
I have an iPhone4. I'm also in Canada and on the Rogers network.
Yes, "antennagate" is real. My house is far enough away from a tower that I can go from 3 bars to 0 just my lightly touching the magic little corner. So I got a case for it, which mostly mitigated the problem in my house...most of the time though, it was never an issue.
I just went to the US (Southern California) and my iPhone was pratically un-useable, case or not. It was entirely useless as a phone, and mostly useless for any kind of data use. Basically, the fucker was a giant brick for all intents and purposes, at least as a communications device.
Based on that...I still don't hate my iPhone...but I sure as fuck despise AT&T's shitty service.
You cannot assume that someone not showing up equals a vote against the system.
My wife will regularly not-vote in an election. It is not because she's disillusioned with the system...its that she just really doesn't give a fuck.
I do believe that there absolutely has to be an option of "All these assholes suck" on every ballot, and these votes should be counted against the rest of the votes. If the majority ov people who voted voted for "none of the above" - then basically the vote for that district should be thrown out & that district starts over.
But to assume that every no show = a vote for none of the above is pure fail.
You're absolutely right. Eliminate minimum wage, and millions of Americans will be put to work...
At a rate of pay that is insanely undervalued to maintain any quality of life. Rents aren't going down...nor is the cost of food...or anything else. Its all going up-up-up. But you're right, putting George down the street to work for a buck an hour helps him out. Wait, no...it makes Corporate America even richer off the backs of the poor.
Lower taxes? Fuck man, Google only pays 3%. 3 fucking percent. On profit. I paid 37% last year on revenue. Lets just not tax them at all, that way they can create more jobs...for a buck an hour. Or, more likely, realize increased dividends to their shareholders...you know, the guys that actually have money, not the guy thats working for a buck an hour which at today's stock price around $600 a share would mean the guy would work 75 days to buy ONE share. One fucking share. Great plan.
Your #3 I can't argue with. Government is very wasteful of our money, and every dollar saved is a dollar they don't have to tax us for. That type of tax reduction I can entirely get behind.
Yep, a few do get a few tax credits. Some get welfare too. Doesn't mean that the system is fair in any way.
And jobs in companies owned by the richer ones? Yep...the poor are subserviant to the rich, and the rich have zero incentive for the poor to become rich. That's why the average CEO makes what, 300x the average employee in their company?
You are right though...reduce a company's tax burden and their revenues go up. Not their headcount...their revenues. Which in turn go to dividends that make the rich investors richer.
Oh, and there are plenty of Average Americans that are teabaggers. Reading comprehension FTW - I said they won't benefit from the tax cutting proposals of the Tea Party...that in fact, these stupid and delusional masses are directly contributing to their continued servitude to corporate America.
You know what *I* would support? Flat Tax. Every man, woman, and child pays x% of their income to taxes. Make it so the first $50,000 or so earned is non-taxable entirely, and then you pay. No deductions. No loopholes. No advantage to someone who has a million bucks to give to a tax evasion specialist to find some retarded loophole to avoid paying the same x% as everyone else.
Thats what we're all bitching about here really...that everyone be taxed fairly. Google paying 2% income tax vs my 30% IS NOT FAIR. There is absolutely no argument that can make it fair.
But the teabaggers want lower taxes...not fair taxes, lower taxes. Because noting pisses off a conservative with balls in his mouth more than having to give up a goddamned dollar to anyone but themself.
You think ANYONE wants the "average person" to succeed either?
What a fucking joke.
My boss (a hardcore Repub in this case) doesn't want me to get rich...because then he immediately loses me as his "servaant" in exchange for the annual salary he provides me. He wants to pay me just enough to keep me just happy enough to continue working 40+ hours a week making him richer.
Worse...if I were to somehow magically become rich, I can become a threat to him...since assuming he's a successful businessman, I could easily have learnt more than enough to copy what he does, enhance and refine it that little bit, and drive him out of business.
Anyone who thinks any other "rich" person thinks differently is a fucking fool. THis is why the poor stay poor and the rich get richer...because they have zero incentive to see me "succeed" in any way that doesn't further their own wealth over mine.
That the rates might be the "lowest in decades" doesn't mean they aren't still too high. And most of the "fucks" pay nothing at all already and still complain about taxes. The fact that the rates on the people who provide the jobs are going up because Obama doesn't want to extend the existing rates is, basically, a dishonest way of getting the tax increases he promised wouldn't happen.
Right...now I understand.
The teabagger movement is a front put up by rich white republicans who are using the poorest and stupidest people in America, who already pay no taxes, to support the extension of a tax cut which has no effect on said poor and stupid people to the benefit of the rich republican corporate overlords.
Well shit, sign me up!
(And for the record...the Obama administration has no issues with extending the "tax cut" - to middle americans (250K/year) but wants to remove it for the "rich folks" - which, lets face it, there are no "normal" Americans in the teabaggers that are remotely effected by this plan. But hey, like the rest of the morons, don't let fact get in the way of a good political rant.
Individual "poor people" pay minimal taxes. The problem is, right now, that millions of poor people paying very little + millions of middle-Americans paying a little more then very little collectively are paying WAY MORE tax proportionatly compared to these giant corporate entities that fuck their way out of paying billions of dollars a year.
The thing is, these teabaggers are also advocating essentially no regulations on business, that the "free market" will ultimately fix itself & rule all. They would never even remotely consider passing anything which would result in corporate America paying more taxes...which means either massive deficit spending like today or no tax cuts for us poor people either.
Basically, they're a bunch of fucks paying the lowest tax rates in decades pissed off that taxes are too high & that corporate america is the holy mother of all. NOT a good combination.
The BSA REALLY sucks ass at the lost revenue/lost jobs/lost economy/etc, because they assume that all pirated software is a lost sale at a 1:1 ratio, which is complete unwarranted bullshit.
On the other hand, they don't seem to suck at coming up with a retail value of pirated software currently in use in the wild. In those numbers...they tend to be rater accurate.
Commercial value != lost sales...but it would appear this time around they're only looking at commercial value.
What I would be curious of...is what % of retail does the average development house get normally?
Between publishing costs & retail costs (paying for the primo spot in a retail store), I would wager (and I admit I could easily be wrong) that the developer would get far LESS than the 70% being given by Apple here.
Yes, of course, we could run our own web presence, sell our product direct online, and by the time we paid for our e-comm solution & bandwidth probably come out WELL ahead of the 30% cut that Apple takes. But, on the same token, I'm a 1-man (me) dev studio and I don't want to have to fuck around with all that shit. I want to make apps & get some residual income over my 9-5 gig.
In my case, Apple is providing value for their 30% cut. For Microsoft...not so much.
Well yes...of course it can be bypassed.
Getting to FB by IP address? Shit, I doubt I have a single user who even knows what an IP Address is. Yes, it is that bad.
But I've had this "system" in place for the better part of a year and a half now. One person used a proxy to get by the hosts entry, and she was summarily skidded for it when a manager came by her desk to find out why she missed a deadline and saw her plugging away on Facebook.
Nobody else has tried to get around it since.
I know its not perfect, or in any way shape or form an enterprise-grade solution. But it's also free & has gotten the job done for now.
Slashdot Mirror
The fact in my sample size of 4 of the Envy systems at my work, we had 3 defective? The Envy laptops are complete steaming festering floater turds, based on what I've seen.
Look, my sample size of Apple Computers in my life is exactly zero, so I'm not commenting on their build quality, or lack thereov as suggested by the article.
But HP licks balls.
Actually, the comment by parent (somewhat) stands.
Yes, Apple will cost more than a similarly equipped PC.
On the ultra-low end...well, Apple doesn't have an "Ultra-low end" - so you can get a $400 PC vs a $1000 MacBook, and you scream "Look! CHEAPER!" - but the included parts in the PC are all, well, cheaper too. The plastic is cheaper, the screen is cheaper, just about everything is cheaper. THe PC will be loaded with bloatware and a ton of Intel Inside and other such design sticker bullshit. The body will be plastic, not Aluminum. The list goes on and on.
On the ultra-high end...without going to an OEM type build, I ran a fully equipped MBP vs everyone else's web stores when last year's MBP refresh hit. Apple came out $250 more than a similarly equipped Dell, and actually $23 LESS than a similarly equipped HP. (Granted, these are webstore prices and not Amazon/Newegg/etc which I know are better...but doing a direct-from-manufacturer compare here). Add in the fact that there is percisely NO bloatware on an Apple, no stickers, no other cost-cutting-for-PC-maker bullshit, and well...the Apple isn't that bloated price-wise. Throw in an Apple student discount (which is SO ungodly easy to get it may as well be available to everyone) and well...the build quality of the Apple makes up for the 10% or less increased cost.
Sure...you will ALWAYS be able to buy a cheapass PC, and said Cheapass PC will always be cheaper than the lowest of Apple's offerings. But for some of us quality is as important as the specifications, and no $400 Craptop will ever compare to the quality behind an Apple build. Period.
I'm sorry, but as royally fucked up as the system is today...I can't imagine the rule of law being passed directly to The People.
Seriously...think about how fucking retarded the average person is. Now give them a direct vote and say in EVERYTHING.
Imagine if you will the army of Glen Beck/Sarah Palin worshippers being whipped into a fucking frenzy when the next gay marriage/stem cell research/whatever comes up & they're the only fuckers that show up. Or imagine a frenzy of Libertarian Freetards coming online en-masse when NASA's budget comes up for a vote. Imagine a bunch of hippie leftists coming out huge and giving all the illegals in Arizona free citizenship. No matter the issue...the people that froth at the mouth about it are always the only ones that show up.
Sorry...but Democracy is the worst form of government on the planet, except for all the other forms of government. In some ways...it is barely tolerable that these un-informed politically-polarized morons get to vote once every four years...imagine an America where the issues are decided by the biggest fucking nutjobs. Fuck that shit.
We do need to fix the system...but direct democracy is a fast path to fucking us all harder than the corrupt politicians do today.
They should have teamed up with FoxNews
There...fixed that for you
The computer gets the "answer" at the same time it appears on screen for the humans to be able to read it.
(Shitty) video at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/ibms-watson-wins-jeopardy-practice-round-can-humans-hang/43601?tag=content;selector-blogs
I surmise that the slot machines, or at least progressive (and networked) slot machines, are deterministic to a point. The House knows about when the jackpot will be paid out and where. They're not totally random, and they do want to not pay off several huge jackpots in a short span of time.
Nope, not the case, because that WOULD be illegal. Every single roll of the random number generator must legally be "random" (or as pseudo-random as random number generators are capable of getting), which basically means every spin has to have the exact same 1 in whatever chance of hitting the jackpot.
The "joy" of these progressive machines though is simply...the house always wins, even if they had a sudden rash of wins in a short period of time, because the jackpot re-seeds at some arbitrairly low-ish number, not at the same amount as was just paid out. The permutations and house edge % programmed into the payout tables for the RNG take care of generating re-seed money.
Basically, the algorithms are all in place, and all this is stitistically accounted for. The principle of gambling is that in the short term, every game/slot machine/etc has a chance of you hitting a jackpot, and/or winning some money, over losing. In a small number of trials, any statistically improbable event can happen. In the long term (millions and millians of trials) the house takes anywhere from 1 to 20% per trial.
I stand by "I have gained nothing"
Bottom line, end of the day...if someone is determined enough to die in order to bring down an aircraft, then no amount of scanners or pat-downs are going to stop them. As stated many times before...the next step will be surgical implantation, a method which would defeat everything we have at the moment. All of this so-called security is based on our reaction to failed attempts. Do you really think they're going to do the same failed attack again?
On the other side...we're spending millions and/or billions of dollars buying equipment that as far as we all know have prevented exactly 0 terrorist attacks from happening. We're standing idly by while our rights are being stripped away because we're comitting the high crime of travelling by aircraft. And worse, in my own opinion, is so many people don't seem to give a shit.
They accept this because they still live in fear. Hence my false dichotomy - I'd rather die free than live in fear. I value security, and anything that the TSA/DHS can do to make travel safer which doesn't involve me ignoring the 4th ammendment I'm fully in support of. But I'm not going to live in fear of the next attack either.
If we live in fear, then they win even if we are never successfully attacked again. If we live free, then they lose even if they successfully attack.
Then you sir are an idiot. No offense.
I fly all the time as well...or, to phrase it better...I used to fly alot before the TSA and DHS decided that the 4th Ammendment is null and void while proceeding through a security checkpoint at an airport.
Yesterday, before the Porn Scan and/or Freedom Fondle, I had approximately a 1 in 25,000,000 chance (Soruce: TFA) of dying in a terrorist attack on the plane.
Today, with the Porn Scan and/or Freedom Fondle, I have an approximate 1 in 25,000,000 chance (Source: TFA) of dying in a terrorist attackon the plane.
So between yesterday and today, I have gained nothing & lost my rights.
Sounds like a fair trade to me. Personally, I'd rather die free than live in fear. But that's me.
Independants/3rd party candidates are all but un-electable.
I mean sure, one or two slip in from time to time. But the majority of the time, by supporting a 3rd party candidate you are directly syphoning votes away from the person who is the "lesser of two evils" in your mind, making it easier for the "greater of two evils" to get the most votes.
Not to mention having many parties just fucks to hell with the vote. Here in Canada, a haven of multi-party politics, our last election the ruling party got 37% of the vote. 37-fucking-percent.
Remember the uproar when George won with 47% of the vote in 2000? Selected, not elected? Imagine he got the presidency with 37% of the popular vote. People would freak the fuck out.
Don't get me wrong...I think multi-party is better than the 2-party system that ya'all have. But to make it work in the US, IMHO you'll have to entirely overhaul the entire electoral system. Otherwise you're just asking for chaos.
Yesh, but then it would get too hard & she would quit.
Light Peak is a design that is intended to replace the myriad of bus technologies present in the average computer.
For example...in my current rig, I have IDE, SATA (both 1.5 and 3gb versions, no SATA/6Gb),eSATA, USB & Firewire.
Light Peak is an optical technology eventually destined to replace all these different specifications into one 10GB/s-capable-today bus, with speeds expected to reach 100GB/s+ by 2020.
(All this info, and more, from TFA)
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
The truth is, no-one wants a slow, cramped and wimpy go-kart (except for some hippies). People want a practical and fun car. If you force these shopping carts on us, we will just start buying more light trucks (eww).
I want a car that gets me from point A to point B by maintaining a steady 5mph over the speed limit in the cheapest and most economical manner possible. I'm also a 6' man that doesn't want to mash my head against the roof of the car.
I have no issue with the crop of crappy front wheel drive cars on the market today. I have managed to find vehicles that aren't cramped dungeons with room for my family all while being crappy front wheel drive cars without even being entirely boring.
But thanks for telling me what I want.
You actually made me lol this morning. Kudos :)
You know, in many ways it is kind of funny.
I have an iPhone4. I'm also in Canada and on the Rogers network.
Yes, "antennagate" is real. My house is far enough away from a tower that I can go from 3 bars to 0 just my lightly touching the magic little corner. So I got a case for it, which mostly mitigated the problem in my house...most of the time though, it was never an issue.
I just went to the US (Southern California) and my iPhone was pratically un-useable, case or not. It was entirely useless as a phone, and mostly useless for any kind of data use. Basically, the fucker was a giant brick for all intents and purposes, at least as a communications device.
Based on that...I still don't hate my iPhone...but I sure as fuck despise AT&T's shitty service.
You cannot assume that someone not showing up equals a vote against the system.
My wife will regularly not-vote in an election. It is not because she's disillusioned with the system...its that she just really doesn't give a fuck.
I do believe that there absolutely has to be an option of "All these assholes suck" on every ballot, and these votes should be counted against the rest of the votes. If the majority ov people who voted voted for "none of the above" - then basically the vote for that district should be thrown out & that district starts over.
But to assume that every no show = a vote for none of the above is pure fail.
You're absolutely right. Eliminate minimum wage, and millions of Americans will be put to work...
At a rate of pay that is insanely undervalued to maintain any quality of life. Rents aren't going down...nor is the cost of food...or anything else. Its all going up-up-up. But you're right, putting George down the street to work for a buck an hour helps him out. Wait, no...it makes Corporate America even richer off the backs of the poor.
Lower taxes? Fuck man, Google only pays 3%. 3 fucking percent. On profit. I paid 37% last year on revenue. Lets just not tax them at all, that way they can create more jobs...for a buck an hour. Or, more likely, realize increased dividends to their shareholders...you know, the guys that actually have money, not the guy thats working for a buck an hour which at today's stock price around $600 a share would mean the guy would work 75 days to buy ONE share. One fucking share. Great plan.
Your #3 I can't argue with. Government is very wasteful of our money, and every dollar saved is a dollar they don't have to tax us for. That type of tax reduction I can entirely get behind.
Yep, a few do get a few tax credits. Some get welfare too. Doesn't mean that the system is fair in any way.
And jobs in companies owned by the richer ones? Yep...the poor are subserviant to the rich, and the rich have zero incentive for the poor to become rich. That's why the average CEO makes what, 300x the average employee in their company?
You are right though...reduce a company's tax burden and their revenues go up. Not their headcount...their revenues. Which in turn go to dividends that make the rich investors richer.
Oh, and there are plenty of Average Americans that are teabaggers. Reading comprehension FTW - I said they won't benefit from the tax cutting proposals of the Tea Party...that in fact, these stupid and delusional masses are directly contributing to their continued servitude to corporate America.
You know what *I* would support? Flat Tax. Every man, woman, and child pays x% of their income to taxes. Make it so the first $50,000 or so earned is non-taxable entirely, and then you pay. No deductions. No loopholes. No advantage to someone who has a million bucks to give to a tax evasion specialist to find some retarded loophole to avoid paying the same x% as everyone else.
Thats what we're all bitching about here really...that everyone be taxed fairly. Google paying 2% income tax vs my 30% IS NOT FAIR. There is absolutely no argument that can make it fair.
But the teabaggers want lower taxes...not fair taxes, lower taxes. Because noting pisses off a conservative with balls in his mouth more than having to give up a goddamned dollar to anyone but themself.
You think ANYONE wants the "average person" to succeed either?
What a fucking joke.
My boss (a hardcore Repub in this case) doesn't want me to get rich...because then he immediately loses me as his "servaant" in exchange for the annual salary he provides me. He wants to pay me just enough to keep me just happy enough to continue working 40+ hours a week making him richer.
Worse...if I were to somehow magically become rich, I can become a threat to him...since assuming he's a successful businessman, I could easily have learnt more than enough to copy what he does, enhance and refine it that little bit, and drive him out of business.
Anyone who thinks any other "rich" person thinks differently is a fucking fool. THis is why the poor stay poor and the rich get richer...because they have zero incentive to see me "succeed" in any way that doesn't further their own wealth over mine.
That the rates might be the "lowest in decades" doesn't mean they aren't still too high. And most of the "fucks" pay nothing at all already and still complain about taxes. The fact that the rates on the people who provide the jobs are going up because Obama doesn't want to extend the existing rates is, basically, a dishonest way of getting the tax increases he promised wouldn't happen.
Right...now I understand.
The teabagger movement is a front put up by rich white republicans who are using the poorest and stupidest people in America, who already pay no taxes, to support the extension of a tax cut which has no effect on said poor and stupid people to the benefit of the rich republican corporate overlords.
Well shit, sign me up!
(And for the record...the Obama administration has no issues with extending the "tax cut" - to middle americans (250K/year) but wants to remove it for the "rich folks" - which, lets face it, there are no "normal" Americans in the teabaggers that are remotely effected by this plan. But hey, like the rest of the morons, don't let fact get in the way of a good political rant.
Obviously this is a little over your head....
Individual "poor people" pay minimal taxes. The problem is, right now, that millions of poor people paying very little + millions of middle-Americans paying a little more then very little collectively are paying WAY MORE tax proportionatly compared to these giant corporate entities that fuck their way out of paying billions of dollars a year.
The thing is, these teabaggers are also advocating essentially no regulations on business, that the "free market" will ultimately fix itself & rule all. They would never even remotely consider passing anything which would result in corporate America paying more taxes...which means either massive deficit spending like today or no tax cuts for us poor people either.
Basically, they're a bunch of fucks paying the lowest tax rates in decades pissed off that taxes are too high & that corporate america is the holy mother of all. NOT a good combination.
Depends on the statistic actually...
The BSA REALLY sucks ass at the lost revenue/lost jobs/lost economy/etc, because they assume that all pirated software is a lost sale at a 1:1 ratio, which is complete unwarranted bullshit.
On the other hand, they don't seem to suck at coming up with a retail value of pirated software currently in use in the wild. In those numbers...they tend to be rater accurate.
Commercial value != lost sales...but it would appear this time around they're only looking at commercial value.
What I would be curious of...is what % of retail does the average development house get normally?
Between publishing costs & retail costs (paying for the primo spot in a retail store), I would wager (and I admit I could easily be wrong) that the developer would get far LESS than the 70% being given by Apple here.
Yes, of course, we could run our own web presence, sell our product direct online, and by the time we paid for our e-comm solution & bandwidth probably come out WELL ahead of the 30% cut that Apple takes. But, on the same token, I'm a 1-man (me) dev studio and I don't want to have to fuck around with all that shit. I want to make apps & get some residual income over my 9-5 gig.
In my case, Apple is providing value for their 30% cut. For Microsoft...not so much.
Well yes...of course it can be bypassed. Getting to FB by IP address? Shit, I doubt I have a single user who even knows what an IP Address is. Yes, it is that bad. But I've had this "system" in place for the better part of a year and a half now. One person used a proxy to get by the hosts entry, and she was summarily skidded for it when a manager came by her desk to find out why she missed a deadline and saw her plugging away on Facebook. Nobody else has tried to get around it since. I know its not perfect, or in any way shape or form an enterprise-grade solution. But it's also free & has gotten the job done for now.