Acknowledging you're 99.9% stupid already makes you 499.9% smarter than those who tell people "I'm a genius"... e.g. those who work at and/or love to hang around "Genius Bars" at Apple stores.

There's no such memo.

"He's talking about people with more money than they can possibly spend looking for more tax breaks so they can accumulate even more wealth that they're never going to spend."

This is just stupid. Sorry to say. People don't just hoard billions of dollars under the mattress.They spend it. They buy bonds, stocks, assets, goods, services, investments, start businesses or expand existing ones, advertise, do all sorts of things with it.

"unlike those billions sitting in off shore account."

In the case of money sitting in off shore accounts, first, it is being spent by the banks that are storing it. Second, it is also invested in overseas businesses, like Apple stores in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe or paying dividends. And third, it would not be there moving so slowly if not for government taxation which incentivizes a lack of flow. To the extent that it does not circulate (and I contend it flows much more than you allege), the stagnation is the result of yet more government-caused distortions.


What specific corporation or individual do you claim does not invest its surplus money? Name one.

For starters, corporations need to either invest their profits or pay dividends.
So, again, who are you referring to specifically?

Even if they have some money in the bank, the banks are investing that money, lending it out, etc. So again, who specifically are you referring to?

As I've said before, ignorance may be bliss, but thankfully, we don't all have to be as ignorant as the least informed among us.

Retailer strong-arming: So what? Movie studios do this to theaters all the time. So what if Best Buy only sells Apple -- in essence becomes an Apple store -- like all the other exclusive Apple stores? There will still be many willing and able competitors who will employ their entrepreneurial savvy by seeing the market need in selling non-apple tablets and make good money fulfilling that need that Best Buy may have (stupidly) stopped serving.

I repeat: Natural monopolies don't exist. And if they come about, they end up very short-lived because the world is full of competitors and competitor-wannabe's who will rush to fill any perceived market needs.

Misinformation: You find your trusted sources. The government is not one of them, I assure you. I, for example, trust way more the "Non-GMO Project" or the "Berkeley Ecology Center" far more than I would trust any (former-lobbyist/government kleptocrat) FDA-crony. Both of these (and many other) non-governmental organizations would still exist without government and in fact would be able to do more without government limiting what they can study or not about the products they inspect.

Patents: No, nothing good will ever come out of patents. If you want I will point you to countless articles I've read which show this to be the case.

New Technology: You're discounting reverse engineering? Why? If what you claim was so, then innovators would not even bother to patent, because then they could keep the technology "secret" forever. Clearly this isn't so. But, they get patents because they know of reverse engineering and other ways that the technology would be copied if they don't get a patent. In fact, right now, they can keep it "secret" by not getting patent. For example, Coca Cola does not have a patent on its secret formula for that very reason. Look it up.

The marginal utility of R&D: This is the standard old argument for patents. But you can find creative ways to make the inventions pay off. Did the music industry disappear because of piracy? No, it is making record profits, actually! Some companies would not be as mega wealthy, perhaps. Bill Gates would still be mega rich, but maybe not as rich as he is now. But, here you are complaining about extreme "inequality" while supporting the very structures which generate it.

Ignorance may be bliss -- but thankfully, we don't all have to be as ignorant as the least informed among us.

..heavily-armed Apple store (tee hee)

This is not a bug, its the new Apple Store building unit! http://www.tuaw.com/media/2006/05/timelapsenyc.jpg

Wow! That tablet turned into a laptop! I HAVE to have one of those! ::heads to the Apple store::

They have the louvre..
and we have... the APPLE STORE? puhlease

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Ugly. I mean if it was an Apple store - sure, but Urban Outfitters?

It's been really touching to see the outpouring of love and support at the local Apple store in Palo Alto -- about a mile and a half from where Steve lived.

>> ^Issykitty:

Wow.


I have this weird intuition that you're wowing at me or other posters here in the same school of thought.

Well if that kid's not acting gay, neither is this guy. He's just drinking beer and being himself right?



If you're wowing at something else please disregard.

>> ^hpqp:

I would not be in the least surprised if he turned out to be gay, and yes, this is very camp. That being said, I know several people whose personalities are contrary to the heterosexual "norm" and yet are attracted to the opposite sex. A boy in my class in highschool was incredibly camp, exuberant, living his life like a constant performance (he's an actor/musician/artist to boot). Needless to say, he had no problem attracting the girls (in fact, some older women in the art world were fawning over him as well, borderline creepy-like).
In any case, I am of the opinion that our discussion and perception of gender and sexual identity need to move beyond the binary stage:
http://videosift.com/video/Re-Teaching-Gender-and-Sexuality


No you are a fag or not its quite simple , if things were shades of Gray it would be hard to know who to shout at or who should get the death penalty or a good stoning.

and don't try and bring facts into the conversation only dirty liberals use facts to win an argument.

>> ^bareboards2:

Really? Gay?
I'm not sure. He dances. He isn't afraid to move his body. That doesn't make him gay.
hpqp, I think you should decide if that channel designation should stay or not.
I would love it if this guy isn't gay. Why are American men so afraid of their bodies? Dang shame.
>> ^siftbot:
Adding video to channels (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://gay.videosift.com" style="color:#FF88AA">Gay) - requested by JiggaJonson.



He does have a very camp posture and very effeminate Mannerisms , obvously before puberty (and after) its possible for someone to go from very effeminate to maculin its also possible for someone to be very effeminate and straight or masuclin and gay.

I would however not be surprised if there was a statistically significant number of males that are effeminate at youth that end up being gay or who know they are gay from a young age. ( some of my friends who are gay and that I grew up with I could tell they were likely gay or bie when they were 12 or so ( not that I really cared ) it was just noticeable in there body language )

It dose not "matter" if he is gay or not but I would say the dance is quite a camp dance and I would not be surprised if he decided he was gay when older.

I couldn't care less if he were gay, straight or bi (he's only 13 anyway), but according to the webs he is not. That's going to make a lot of of boys sad...

>> ^bareboards2:

Really? Gay?
I'm not sure. He dances. He isn't afraid to move his body. That doesn't make him gay.
hpqp, I think you should decide if that channel designation should stay or not.
I would love it if this guy isn't gay. Why are American men so afraid of their bodies? Dang shame.
>> ^siftbot:
Adding video to channels (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://gay.videosift.com" style="color:#FF88AA">Gay) - requested by JiggaJonson.

Really? Gay?

I'm not sure. He dances. He isn't afraid to move his body. That doesn't make him gay.

hpqp, I think you should decide if that channel designation should stay or not.

I would love it if this guy isn't gay. Why are American men so afraid of their bodies? Dang shame.

>> ^siftbot:

Adding video to channels (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://gay.videosift.com" style="color:#FF88AA">Gay) - requested by JiggaJonson.

>> ^ponceleon:

Fun, but I feel like they should have kept going till they hit something the apple store wouldn't allow. Say, come in dressed in an S&M outfit, perhaps with ass-less chaps.


Or go in naked.