Las Vegas

Is a place I cannot understand. It's where the complete moral & social bankruptcy inherent in US corporations rises to the top. A dirty, money grabbing town covered up with glitzy wrapping paper. I've always found it an inherently sad place full of people trying to convince other people that they're all really having a great time. The major hotel chains who tacitly condone the hoards of underage prostitutes working their lounges and bars. As long as it brings the drinkers & gamblers in, then it's OK I guess.

My biggest wonder is what the average visitor sees in the place? Are their lives really so meaningless that this carefully manufactured world appears to be real & enjoyable? When you blow your savings at the tables or sell your body on the strip does what happens in Vegas really stay in Vegas?

The local neighborhoods show a different side of the town. Away from the gated communities is the biggest collection of thrift shops and other stores catering primarily to those on the poverty line that I've ever encountered. With the wrapping paper off, the gift isn't that nice.

From a King to a Jack?

After narrowly surviving the price-drop fiasco it seems as if Apple has more image problems on it's hands. Don't the folks at Cuppertino realize that these days it doesn't take much for a company to go speedily from starlet to dud? Just ask the folks at Jet Blue.

The latest iPhone update basically disabled (apparently for good) all iPhones hacked to run on different networks. It also left considerable doubt about the long term viability of 3rd part applications and considerably roused up the Apple community (normally noted as solid Apple apologists). There's even a spoof video based around Apple's "Misfits" campaign.

Steve, here's the scoop. There's a huge wave of discontentment around locked in technology right now. Your exclusive with AT&T had already fanned the fire and your latest deeds are playing straight into itchy Senator's fingers. Consumers are unhappy in general with the state of play & you seem determined to paint yourself as the Wal-Mart of mobile services. Time to think different again old boy.

Amos

Thus says the LORD the God of hosts:
Woe to the complacent in Zion!
Lying upon beds of ivory,
stretched comfortably on their couches,
they eat lambs taken from the flock,
and calves from the stall!
Improvising to the music of the harp,
like David, they devise their own accompaniment.
They drink wine from bowls
and anoint themselves with the best oils;
yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!
Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile,
and their wanton revelry shall be done away with.

Scary how a 3,000 year old text can make you squirm isn't it?