put off getting an iPhone specifically waiting for the 3G iteration. In my immediate family, I think there will be a half-dozen sales as soon as the 3G iPhone is out...I can think of another half-dozen or so friends who are waiting for the roll-out as well. I am betting Apple will have no problem meeting that 10MM figure.
One alternative is to work with a good book dealer to build whatever sort of collection you might be interested in creating. Most of my business is in collection/library development, most often for people in the situation you describe...people who love books, want to read what comes into their collection, but lack the time to properly track down material.
Several of my favorite clients are on personal "book of the month club" programs, where I send them a random book within their interest area(s) each month. Thus far, I've never had anyone complain about a choice.
I strongly encourage you to find a good book dealer and have a chat. In the alternative, drop me a line *g*...my personal collecting is in hard spec. fiction and cryptography.
Good luck..ijk -- Ian J. Kahn Lux Mentis, Booksellers Antiquarian & Fine First Editions 211 Marginal Way, #777 Portland, ME, 04101 http://www.luxmentis.com/ Member ABAA/ILAB
p.s. You should also check out the SF comm. at www.librarything.com.
to all but lawyers (confession: I am a recovering lawyer). Under the current approach, Coca-Cola's greatest error was not New Coke, it was not patenting the "containing of a carbonated fluid in a variable sized vessel..." Take that Pepsi, et al. Henry Ford should clearly have nailed down the whole "four wheeled, motorized vehicle" thing and avoided all these annoying "also rans."
Personally, I think a company should live or die on thier ability to innovate and, more importantly, provide value and support to their client base...not their ability to litigate. YMMV.
To begin with, he did not say that "grammer [is] more important than the message," he said, "the coherent presentation of your information [is] at least as important as the information." The later is a, frankly, true. I am not inclined to belabor the point if the truth of it is not clear, if you can not see the simple truth of the statement, I suggest you log off, step back and ponder the difference between, say, Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address and Tiny Tim delivering the same...
I would also suggest that your racist/elitist spin is deeply disingenuous and, in the end, serves little purpose but to evade cultural responsibility to learn the fundamental skills of language. I offer my grandfather as an insular example: He was born poor in Northern Ireland, was forced to drop out of school in the 8th grade to work in the shipyard in Belfast (mind you, already able to quote scene and line of any Shakespeare, etc.). He came to this country, at 21, with no money and an 8th grade education...but in 2 years, had a GED and a full scholarship to Colombia. He spent the rest of his life as principle and Joyce scholar.
I am saddened and slightly depressed by the race to mediocrity you seem to have so willingly embraced. Expecting kids (and adults) to learn and use proper language (be it English, Dutch, Maa, etc.) is not racist or elitist...it is simply what should be expected in civilized society. Apropos of nothing, I am so tired of interviewing young men and women who are functionally incapable of conducting an interview...can't make eye contact...can't coherently articulate their thoughts...can't cogently respond to questions./rootrot -- i-before-e rules are weird and unscientific.
to open, copy and maintain every item that passes through its system? This would be the functional equivalent, from a privacy/process standpoint. I will assume, until proven wrong, that more rational minds will prevail.
FWIW, you can rip to formats other than AAC and you can certainly download and play pretty much any other format. I assume that they meant you can only "legally purchase music" from Apple's store as opposed to the much broader "you can only use itunes with music from AMS." Clearly this was a minor oversight on their part.../rr
Bob may well hold passionate and horribly misplaced beliefs, but he is open to arguement and, on occassion, can even change his mind. He also was/is the driving force behind Pop!Tech, an annual brain candy event where the questions around "what does all this tech mean" are addressed. Most people seem to miss that Bob is a provocateur...he *enjoys* annoying the crap out of people and forcing them to defend their often dogmatically (and poorly understood) positions. Mind you, this is not to say that Bob does not also hold some opinions dogmatically...but at least he can defend *why* he hold them. Personally, I like a man (or woman) who takes such pleasure in forcing others to think and defend their positions...in trying to respond to his taunts, deepen the understanding of their own positions, is this a bad thing?. Then again, maybe it is easier just to say that he's a bigmouth...perhaps you can force him to drink the hemlock. rootrot -- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -George Bernard Shaw
Yeah...well, my bad. I posted it as a stand alone, but then two msgs proportedly from folks in Maine amused/annoyed me enough that I planted the text under them as well...on principle.
One of the two links I posted under another response has a great collection of "success" stories addressing how they are being used posted by parents, teachers and the students themselves. I am sorry that I don't have it at my fingertips, but I am actually in the middle of finishing a project and can't go digging after it. Believe it is in a response to the "first" posting.
The capital (originally $50MM, reduced to $30MM) that created the corpus of the endowment for this project came from the one time settlement of the Betsy Noyse estate (of Intel fame). While it could have been dumped into the general fund and spent on everything from roads to legislative jaunts, it was proposed that the windfall not be squandered away but used to do something that could not be done (easily) in the normal course of state budgetary process. I do not have links off the top of my head about these issues but one or both of the following will probably get you there if you have the time...
I will not address everything you ask as, frankly, I do not know and do not have the time or inclination to research it. I agree about the issue of leading, however, though I think that is in part what makes Maine a good test bed. Relatively small and relatively inexpensive to work out the kinks before rolling it out in a *large* system.
As I said elsewhere, It is my understanding that the orignal $50MM (reduced to $30MM) was from the one-time settlement of Betsy Noyse's estate. Very fitting, as it was Intel money. Rather than fritter away in the general fund, it was proposed, successfully, that the windfall should be used "to make a difference." Time will tell if that is the case.
The orignal $50MM (reduced to $30MM) was from the one-time settlement of Betsy Noyse's estate. Very fitting, as it was Intel money. Rather than fritter away in the general fund, it was proposed, successfully, that the windfall should be used "to make a difference." Time will tell if that is the case.
I'm sorry, there are just some very *wrong* things being said about this program both by people who claim to be from the state and via those from "away." So to clarify a number of things that have been said elsewhere:
1: The money for this program was privately generated and tagged specically for this program.
2: No general fund tax dollars are involved in this project...that is, no money that would otherwise go to other educational goals was diverted fund this.
3: Apple absolutely loss-lead this project...there is no doubt where the future is heading and a successful project here in Maine will pay off when NY or CA rolls out the same thing.
4: There is money being spent on teacher training and on technology integration into daily education.
5: This is an issue of equity of access and equity of opportunity. As Gov. King so eloquently explained, [paraphrasing] "My family was wealthy, when I was in school my father bought an Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house. Every other student in my class had to share the dog-eared one in the school library. Did this give me an advantage, absolutely. As of this moment, every single 7th grader in the State of Maine has their own World Book Encyclopedia because there is one on every single laptop." This program is about putting the single greatest educational TOOL since the printed book in the hands of those who need it most. It is about creating a structure within which those tools can be utilized to their highest and best use. It is about, frankly, the future of education.
6: The argument that kids can not be responsible is bunk...they are the exact same arguments that were being made when the debates about whether kids should be allowed to bring their textbooks home in the '30-40's...they were wrong then and wrong now.
I, for one, am very proud of this program. A decade from now, kids having laptops as part of their education will be a non-issue...like not allowing kids to bring books home, we will wonder what all the fuss was about. Will it go smoothly at every turn, no...is it the right path to go...absolutely. Maine's motto is Dirigo..."I Lead." Welcome to the future of education./rr -- I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them. - Isaac Asimov
[I have posted this generally, but repeat it here as well:] I'm sorry, there are just some very *wrong* things being said about this program both by people who claim to be from the state and via those from "away." So to clarify a number of things that have been said elsewhere:
1: The money for this program was privately generated and tagged specically for this program.
2: No general fund tax dollars are involved in this project...that is, no money that would otherwise go to other educational goals was diverted fund this.
3: Apple absolutely loss-lead this project...there is no doubt where the future is heading and a successful project here in Maine will pay off when NY or CA rolls out the same thing.
4: There is money being spent on teacher training and on technology integration into daily education.
5: This is an issue of equity of access and equity of opportunity. As Gov. King so eloquently explained, [paraphrasing] "My family was wealthy, when I was in school my father bought an Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house. Every other student in my class had to share the dog-eared one in the school library. Did this give me an advantage, absolutely. As of this moment, every single 7th grader in the State of Maine has their own World Book Encyclopedia because there is one on every single laptop." This program is about putting the single greatest educational TOOL since the printed book in the hands of those who need it most. It is about creating a structure within which those tools can be utilized to their highest and best use. It is about, frankly, the future of education.
6: The argument that kids can not be responsible is bunk...they are the exact same arguments that were being made when the debates about whether kids should be allowed to bring their textbooks home in the '30-40's...they were wrong then and wrong now.
I, for one, am very proud of this program. A decade from now, kids having laptops as part of their education will be a non-issue...like not allowing kids to bring books home, we will wonder what all the fuss was about. Will it go smoothly at every turn, no...is it the right path to go...absolutely. Maine's motto is Dirigo..."I Lead." Welcome to the future of education./rr -- I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them. - Isaac Asimov
I'm sorry, there are just some very *wrong* things being said about this program both by people who claim to be from the state and via those from "away." So to clarify a number of things that have been said elsewhere:
1: The money for this program was privately generated and tagged specically for this program.
2: No general fund tax dollars are involved in this project...that is, no money that would otherwise go to other educational goals was diverted fund this.
3: Apple absolutely loss-lead this project...there is no doubt where the future is heading and a successful project here in Maine will pay off when NY or CA rolls out the same thing.
4: There is money being spent on teacher training and on technology integration into daily education.
5: This is an issue of equity of access and equity of opportunity. As Gov. King so eloquently explained, [paraphrasing] "My family was wealthy, when I was in school my father bought an Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house. Every other student in my class had to share the dog-eared one in the school library. Did this give me an advantage, absolutely. As of this moment, every single 7th grader in the State of Maine has their own World Book Encyclopedia because there is one on every single laptop." This program is about putting the single greatest educational TOOL since the printed book in the hands of those who need it most. It is about creating a structure within which those tools can be utilized to their highest and best use. It is about, frankly, the future of education.
6: The argument that kids can not be responsible is bunk...they are the exact same arguments that were being made when the debates about whether kids should be allowed to bring their textbooks home in the '30-40's...they were wrong then and wrong now.
I, for one, am very proud of this program. A decade from now, kids having laptops as part of their education will be a non-issue...like not allowing kids to bring books home, we will wonder what all the fuss was about. Will it go smoothly at every turn, no...is it the right path to go...absolutely. Maine's motto is Dirigo..."I Lead." Welcome to the future of education./rr -- I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them. - Isaac Asimov
First off, IAAL. While tax law is not my field, I have a few observations.
Firstly, walmart and other national chains have already been charging taxes for online sales. They are required to because, if they have a physical store in the state (nexus), they are required to do so. This is also why when I purchased things from Mac/PCConnection while living in Ohio, they charged me tax (they have a distribution facility there) but when I order here in Maine there is no tax (no nexus). So large brick and block retailers saying that they are charging tax is, frankly, redundant.
Secondly, this issue is *just like* that faced by catalog retailers. A company like LLBean is very careful not to hire contractors from a state like NY (hard on nexus issues) because they do not what to have to charge NY customers sales tax. They, catalog retailers, only pay tax in states where there is an identifiable nexus...sales alone are not enough. Online retailers are in exactly the same position and should be treated the same. If they have a distribution center, headquarters, logistics center etc etc, then they have to charge sales tax...otherwise, they do not.
From what I have seen, the companies that are mentioned are those likely to have physical structures in most/every state. If Amazon begins charging tax for their core business, I'll be very surprised (though it raises interesting issues with their new "apparel store)./rr -- To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. --Theodore Roosevelt
What you loose for the cliché of proposing on Valentine's Day you more than make up for in style and originality. The, "Dork, you made me cry" gives you both a huge bonus too laughing.
We are both very happy for you. Congratulations. Will you be registering at Think Geek?!?!?
I have a 32meg disk on key by M-Systems that is just outstanding. I use it all the time. I have two non-legacy laptops (TiBooks) and 2 non-legacy boxes (G4 tower and cube) and serveral pc boxes all sharing space in the house. While they are all networked, the ease at which you can move files of all sorts from machine to machine is just great...
Beware, however, be certain to get one that is "driverless"...it makes all the difference...
Well, as one who runs multiple platforms and multiple os' thereon, I must say i have found it to be extrodinary. I have 3 pc boxes running some combination of 4 or 5 os' and 2 TiBooks and an imac running OSX10.1.
I am, as a direct result of OSX, dumping all but one of the pc boxes completely (and adding a new G4 Tower (need that DVD burner)). I'll keep one just to have a strong box to run the occasional game *not* emulated (for obvious reasons). I have no need for the others any more...quite frankly, OSX simply runs rings around the vast majority of what is out there for day to day use blended with abject power.
First off, I should say that I *am* a lawyer..though I no longer practice (tech is far more entertaining):
This is an archetypical pro-business civil settlement. MS appears to be minorly rebuked, yet comes away with a PR and marketing triumph. On one hand, you have *seriously* needy public schools getting new and arguably functional hardware and software. That is, overall, a really good thing (N.B. I see nothing addressing issues of integration, support or training and am thus inclined to think that much of this, if it comes to pass, will be largely un-under-utilized..but that is another matter). Any settlement that touches addressing these shortcomings is at least worth considering...
However, as was pointed out elsewhere, MS is sitting on about $36BB cash and what is largely being "offered" here is in the form of software and hardware ($900MMish based on MS valuations) and here is the rub. That $900MM has an actual cost of somewhere in the neighborhood of $50MM (I have nothing to base this number on and I wager it will be lower than than...), that is to say that the actual cost to MS is de minimus.
In exchange for this minor offering to the legal gods (or demons), MS will *gain* a really substantial marketing coup...market penetration in a very young, eager and hungry market group..school children. (aside: I am sorry, I have this great image of RJ Reynolds handing out cigarettes at schools to settle one of the marketing class actions they have faced...) This is truly a win-win for MS...very little actual cost and a huge marketing upside.
The entire idea behind class actions and/or punitive damages is the idea of *punishing* a corporation for wrongdoing at the corporate level. It is always a matter of ratios. As a percentage of income/wealth, a $100 speeding ticket *hurts* the recipient to a certain extent...as it should. Here, we are faced with a situation where MS will receive the equivalent of a $1 fine *and* win Man of the Year.
If they are to be "punished" for corporate wrongdoing (rather well documented, at this point), then do so...make it meaningful and make it *hurt*. Otherwise, it is simply a cost of doing business and a cost that they have long demonstrated that they will willingly bear.
best,
/rootrot
--
Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, most do.
- Bertrand Russell
Slashdot Mirror
Looks great...look forward to it on my 17" Pro. Think I'll go reload DII...
put off getting an iPhone specifically waiting for the 3G iteration. In my immediate family, I think there will be a half-dozen sales as soon as the 3G iPhone is out...I can think of another half-dozen or so friends who are waiting for the roll-out as well. I am betting Apple will have no problem meeting that 10MM figure.
One alternative is to work with a good book dealer to build whatever sort of collection you might be interested in creating. Most of my business is in collection/library development, most often for people in the situation you describe...people who love books, want to read what comes into their collection, but lack the time to properly track down material.
.ijk
Several of my favorite clients are on personal "book of the month club" programs, where I send them a random book within their interest area(s) each month. Thus far, I've never had anyone complain about a choice.
I strongly encourage you to find a good book dealer and have a chat. In the alternative, drop me a line *g*...my personal collecting is in hard spec. fiction and cryptography.
Good luck.
--
Ian J. Kahn
Lux Mentis, Booksellers
Antiquarian & Fine First Editions
211 Marginal Way, #777
Portland, ME, 04101
http://www.luxmentis.com/
Member ABAA/ILAB
p.s. You should also check out the SF comm. at www.librarything.com.
"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
There was also a time when the vast majority of people thougth that the world was flat...that didn't work out so well, either.
Wait...Brits who don't understand tech acronyms are getting hit with foxes?!? Is this some strange backlash against the hunt ban? I am so confused....
to all but lawyers (confession: I am a recovering lawyer). Under the current approach, Coca-Cola's greatest error was not New Coke, it was not patenting the "containing of a carbonated fluid in a variable sized vessel..." Take that Pepsi, et al. Henry Ford should clearly have nailed down the whole "four wheeled, motorized vehicle" thing and avoided all these annoying "also rans."
Personally, I think a company should live or die on thier ability to innovate and, more importantly, provide value and support to their client base...not their ability to litigate. YMMV.
To begin with, he did not say that "grammer [is] more important than the message," he said, "the coherent presentation of your information [is] at least as important as the information." The later is a, frankly, true. I am not inclined to belabor the point if the truth of it is not clear, if you can not see the simple truth of the statement, I suggest you log off, step back and ponder the difference between, say, Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address and Tiny Tim delivering the same...
/rootrot
I would also suggest that your racist/elitist spin is deeply disingenuous and, in the end, serves little purpose but to evade cultural responsibility to learn the fundamental skills of language. I offer my grandfather as an insular example: He was born poor in Northern Ireland, was forced to drop out of school in the 8th grade to work in the shipyard in Belfast (mind you, already able to quote scene and line of any Shakespeare, etc.). He came to this country, at 21, with no money and an 8th grade education...but in 2 years, had a GED and a full scholarship to Colombia. He spent the rest of his life as principle and Joyce scholar.
I am saddened and slightly depressed by the race to mediocrity you seem to have so willingly embraced. Expecting kids (and adults) to learn and use proper language (be it English, Dutch, Maa, etc.) is not racist or elitist...it is simply what should be expected in civilized society. Apropos of nothing, I am so tired of interviewing young men and women who are functionally incapable of conducting an interview...can't make eye contact...can't coherently articulate their thoughts...can't cogently respond to questions.
--
i-before-e rules are weird and unscientific.
to open, copy and maintain every item that passes through its system? This would be the functional equivalent, from a privacy/process standpoint. I will assume, until proven wrong, that more rational minds will prevail.
Must have been a slow day today...yawn.
FWIW, you can rip to formats other than AAC and you can certainly download and play pretty much any other format. I assume that they meant you can only "legally purchase music" from Apple's store as opposed to the much broader "you can only use itunes with music from AMS." Clearly this was a minor oversight on their part... /rr
Bob may well hold passionate and horribly misplaced beliefs, but he is open to arguement and, on occassion, can even change his mind. He also was/is the driving force behind Pop!Tech, an annual brain candy event where the questions around "what does all this tech mean" are addressed. Most people seem to miss that Bob is a provocateur...he *enjoys* annoying the crap out of people and forcing them to defend their often dogmatically (and poorly understood) positions. Mind you, this is not to say that Bob does not also hold some opinions dogmatically...but at least he can defend *why* he hold them. Personally, I like a man (or woman) who takes such pleasure in forcing others to think and defend their positions...in trying to respond to his taunts, deepen the understanding of their own positions, is this a bad thing?. Then again, maybe it is easier just to say that he's a bigmouth...perhaps you can force him to drink the hemlock.
rootrot
--
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-George Bernard Shaw
Yeah...well, my bad. I posted it as a stand alone, but then two msgs proportedly from folks in Maine amused/annoyed me enough that I planted the text under them as well...on principle.
One of the two links I posted under another response has a great collection of "success" stories addressing how they are being used posted by parents, teachers and the students themselves. I am sorry that I don't have it at my fingertips, but I am actually in the middle of finishing a project and can't go digging after it. Believe it is in a response to the "first" posting.
The capital (originally $50MM, reduced to $30MM) that created the corpus of the endowment for this project came from the one time settlement of the Betsy Noyse estate (of Intel fame). While it could have been dumped into the general fund and spent on everything from roads to legislative jaunts, it was proposed that the windfall not be squandered away but used to do something that could not be done (easily) in the normal course of state budgetary process. I do not have links off the top of my head about these issues but one or both of the following will probably get you there if you have the time...
e .us/mlte/
http://www.mainelearns.org/
http://www.state.m
I will not address everything you ask as, frankly, I do not know and do not have the time or inclination to research it. I agree about the issue of leading, however, though I think that is in part what makes Maine a good test bed. Relatively small and relatively inexpensive to work out the kinks before rolling it out in a *large* system.
As I said elsewhere, It is my understanding that the orignal $50MM (reduced to $30MM) was from the one-time settlement of Betsy Noyse's estate. Very fitting, as it was Intel money. Rather than fritter away in the general fund, it was proposed, successfully, that the windfall should be used "to make a difference." Time will tell if that is the case.
The orignal $50MM (reduced to $30MM) was from the one-time settlement of Betsy Noyse's estate. Very fitting, as it was Intel money. Rather than fritter away in the general fund, it was proposed, successfully, that the windfall should be used "to make a difference." Time will tell if that is the case.
[Posted generally, applied specifically]
/rr
I'm sorry, there are just some very *wrong* things being said about this program both by people who claim to be from the state and via those from "away." So to clarify a number of things that have been said elsewhere:
1: The money for this program was privately generated and tagged specically for this program.
2: No general fund tax dollars are involved in this project...that is, no money that would otherwise go to other educational goals was diverted fund this.
3: Apple absolutely loss-lead this project...there is no doubt where the future is heading and a successful project here in Maine will pay off when NY or CA rolls out the same thing.
4: There is money being spent on teacher training and on technology integration into daily education.
5: This is an issue of equity of access and equity of opportunity. As Gov. King so eloquently explained, [paraphrasing] "My family was wealthy, when I was in school my father bought an Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house. Every other student in my class had to share the dog-eared one in the school library. Did this give me an advantage, absolutely. As of this moment, every single 7th grader in the State of Maine has their own World Book Encyclopedia because there is one on every single laptop." This program is about putting the single greatest educational TOOL since the printed book in the hands of those who need it most. It is about creating a structure within which those tools can be utilized to their highest and best use. It is about, frankly, the future of education.
6: The argument that kids can not be responsible is bunk...they are the exact same arguments that were being made when the debates about whether kids should be allowed to bring their textbooks home in the '30-40's...they were wrong then and wrong now.
I, for one, am very proud of this program. A decade from now, kids having laptops as part of their education will be a non-issue...like not allowing kids to bring books home, we will wonder what all the fuss was about. Will it go smoothly at every turn, no...is it the right path to go...absolutely. Maine's motto is Dirigo..."I Lead." Welcome to the future of education.
--
I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them.
- Isaac Asimov
[I have posted this generally, but repeat it here as well:]
/rr
I'm sorry, there are just some very *wrong* things being said about this program both by people who claim to be from the state and via those from "away." So to clarify a number of things that have been said elsewhere:
1: The money for this program was privately generated and tagged specically for this program.
2: No general fund tax dollars are involved in this project...that is, no money that would otherwise go to other educational goals was diverted fund this.
3: Apple absolutely loss-lead this project...there is no doubt where the future is heading and a successful project here in Maine will pay off when NY or CA rolls out the same thing.
4: There is money being spent on teacher training and on technology integration into daily education.
5: This is an issue of equity of access and equity of opportunity. As Gov. King so eloquently explained, [paraphrasing] "My family was wealthy, when I was in school my father bought an Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house. Every other student in my class had to share the dog-eared one in the school library. Did this give me an advantage, absolutely. As of this moment, every single 7th grader in the State of Maine has their own World Book Encyclopedia because there is one on every single laptop." This program is about putting the single greatest educational TOOL since the printed book in the hands of those who need it most. It is about creating a structure within which those tools can be utilized to their highest and best use. It is about, frankly, the future of education.
6: The argument that kids can not be responsible is bunk...they are the exact same arguments that were being made when the debates about whether kids should be allowed to bring their textbooks home in the '30-40's...they were wrong then and wrong now.
I, for one, am very proud of this program. A decade from now, kids having laptops as part of their education will be a non-issue...like not allowing kids to bring books home, we will wonder what all the fuss was about. Will it go smoothly at every turn, no...is it the right path to go...absolutely. Maine's motto is Dirigo..."I Lead." Welcome to the future of education.
--
I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them.
- Isaac Asimov
I'm sorry, there are just some very *wrong* things being said about this program both by people who claim to be from the state and via those from "away." So to clarify a number of things that have been said elsewhere:
/rr
1: The money for this program was privately generated and tagged specically for this program.
2: No general fund tax dollars are involved in this project...that is, no money that would otherwise go to other educational goals was diverted fund this.
3: Apple absolutely loss-lead this project...there is no doubt where the future is heading and a successful project here in Maine will pay off when NY or CA rolls out the same thing.
4: There is money being spent on teacher training and on technology integration into daily education.
5: This is an issue of equity of access and equity of opportunity. As Gov. King so eloquently explained, [paraphrasing] "My family was wealthy, when I was in school my father bought an Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house. Every other student in my class had to share the dog-eared one in the school library. Did this give me an advantage, absolutely. As of this moment, every single 7th grader in the State of Maine has their own World Book Encyclopedia because there is one on every single laptop." This program is about putting the single greatest educational TOOL since the printed book in the hands of those who need it most. It is about creating a structure within which those tools can be utilized to their highest and best use. It is about, frankly, the future of education.
6: The argument that kids can not be responsible is bunk...they are the exact same arguments that were being made when the debates about whether kids should be allowed to bring their textbooks home in the '30-40's...they were wrong then and wrong now.
I, for one, am very proud of this program. A decade from now, kids having laptops as part of their education will be a non-issue...like not allowing kids to bring books home, we will wonder what all the fuss was about. Will it go smoothly at every turn, no...is it the right path to go...absolutely. Maine's motto is Dirigo..."I Lead." Welcome to the future of education.
--
I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them.
- Isaac Asimov
First off, IAAL. While tax law is not my field, I have a few observations.
/rr
Firstly, walmart and other national chains have already been charging taxes for online sales. They are required to because, if they have a physical store in the state (nexus), they are required to do so. This is also why when I purchased things from Mac/PCConnection while living in Ohio, they charged me tax (they have a distribution facility there) but when I order here in Maine there is no tax (no nexus). So large brick and block retailers saying that they are charging tax is, frankly, redundant.
Secondly, this issue is *just like* that faced by catalog retailers. A company like LLBean is very careful not to hire contractors from a state like NY (hard on nexus issues) because they do not what to have to charge NY customers sales tax. They, catalog retailers, only pay tax in states where there is an identifiable nexus...sales alone are not enough. Online retailers are in exactly the same position and should be treated the same. If they have a distribution center, headquarters, logistics center etc etc, then they have to charge sales tax...otherwise, they do not.
From what I have seen, the companies that are mentioned are those likely to have physical structures in most/every state. If Amazon begins charging tax for their core business, I'll be very surprised (though it raises interesting issues with their new "apparel store).
--
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
--Theodore Roosevelt
Think they'll let you register there...nothing says romance like a ruby neon glow shimmering from the depths of a case...
Again, congrats to you both and best of luck.
Warmest wishes,
/ijk & seh
What you loose for the cliché of proposing on Valentine's Day you more than make up for in style and originality. The, "Dork, you made me cry" gives you both a huge bonus too laughing.
We are both very happy for you. Congratulations. Will you be registering at Think Geek?!?!?
best wishes,
/ijk & seh
I have a 32meg disk on key by M-Systems that is just outstanding. I use it all the time. I have two non-legacy laptops (TiBooks) and 2 non-legacy boxes (G4 tower and cube) and serveral pc boxes all sharing space in the house. While they are all networked, the ease at which you can move files of all sorts from machine to machine is just great...
Beware, however, be certain to get one that is "driverless"...it makes all the difference...
best,
/ijk
Well, as one who runs multiple platforms and multiple os' thereon, I must say i have found it to be extrodinary. I have 3 pc boxes running some combination of 4 or 5 os' and 2 TiBooks and an imac running OSX10.1.
I am, as a direct result of OSX, dumping all but one of the pc boxes completely (and adding a new G4 Tower (need that DVD burner)). I'll keep one just to have a strong box to run the occasional game *not* emulated (for obvious reasons). I have no need for the others any more...quite frankly, OSX simply runs rings around the vast majority of what is out there for day to day use blended with abject power.
Just great...and way to much fun to play with....
/rootrot
First off, I should say that I *am* a lawyer..though I no longer practice (tech is far more entertaining):
This is an archetypical pro-business civil settlement. MS appears to be minorly rebuked, yet comes away with a PR and marketing triumph. On one hand, you have *seriously* needy public schools getting new and arguably functional hardware and software. That is, overall, a really good thing (N.B. I see nothing addressing issues of integration, support or training and am thus inclined to think that much of this, if it comes to pass, will be largely un-under-utilized..but that is another matter). Any settlement that touches addressing these shortcomings is at least worth considering...
However, as was pointed out elsewhere, MS is sitting on about $36BB cash and what is largely being "offered" here is in the form of software and hardware ($900MMish based on MS valuations) and here is the rub. That $900MM has an actual cost of somewhere in the neighborhood of $50MM (I have nothing to base this number on and I wager it will be lower than than...), that is to say that the actual cost to MS is de minimus.
In exchange for this minor offering to the legal gods (or demons), MS will *gain* a really substantial marketing coup...market penetration in a very young, eager and hungry market group..school children. (aside: I am sorry, I have this great image of RJ Reynolds handing out cigarettes at schools to settle one of the marketing class actions they have faced...) This is truly a win-win for MS...very little actual cost and a huge marketing upside.
The entire idea behind class actions and/or punitive damages is the idea of *punishing* a corporation for wrongdoing at the corporate level. It is always a matter of ratios. As a percentage of income/wealth, a $100 speeding ticket *hurts* the recipient to a certain extent...as it should. Here, we are faced with a situation where MS will receive the equivalent of a $1 fine *and* win Man of the Year.
If they are to be "punished" for corporate wrongdoing (rather well documented, at this point), then do so...make it meaningful and make it *hurt*. Otherwise, it is simply a cost of doing business and a cost that they have long demonstrated that they will willingly bear.
best,
/rootrot
--
Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, most do.
- Bertrand Russell
tormented by guilt, claw his own eyes out?
Just trying to carry the analogy out to its logical conclusion.
/rr