***
The reaction of members of the Cult of Mac (or, as Shianux describes them, 'Mac Whores') to the iPod shuffle is amusing.
My objections to Macs are now less than what they used to be; the OS is now based on Unix, and prices seem to have gone down somewhat, though it's still substantially cheaper to assemble a PC/get a PC assembled, so the infamous Mac tax is still around. However, the mice still have no right mouse buttons, and the software spread is lacking. But I think probably the thing that annoys me the most is the way the Cult of Mac reacts to each new announcement from Apple, as if they've been hypnotised.
Take the iPod shuffle, for example. Its tagline is: "iPod shuffle. Enjoy uncertainty". So basically, they give you one less major feature, and then tout it as a feature. Knowing the consumer is one thing, but I am amazed and astounded by their gall - marketing the lack of a feature as a feature.
As Mad Magazine observed:
"Any idiot can add lots of chemicals and additives to their food.
But it takes a businessman to add less of them, and charge people more for giving them less"
It isn't even that much better designed, aesthetically or functionally, than current flash MP3 playersl; perhaps the only innovation is that it can be plugged directly into USB slots (and some other MP3 flash player company has probably done this already).
Oh, and don't forget that Steve Jobs dissed flash MP3 players a short 3 months ago.
These Apple people would be able to see fridges to Eskimos, or bicycles to fishes, if you like, no thanks to some people (ie Mac Cultists) who are just going to go for this because of the Apple branding. Anything Apple = good. Bah.
Bear in mind too that in this at least Sim Wong Hoo is right - Apple is coming up with a product that Creative had years ago. If consumers really only wanted a bare-bones MP3 player, they'd have bought Creative's offering. They didn't then but they will now. Why? Because this time it's Apple that's making the product. Go figure...
Someone: "It's nice to see how Apple have innovated by coming up with an MP3 player that seemingly incorporates a new, never seen before technology called "shuffle". It's always nice to know that they look after their loyal customers to the extent of choosing their songs for them and basically telling them, hey, you guys are too stupid to choose your own music, but we'll do it for you!
In fact, I hear they're so hyped about this new concept of "randomness" and "giving chance a chance", that apparently, the next Ipod will not have any playing or skipping functions at all! The player will randomly fill up with songs when connected to your PC/Mac (any number between 1 song to the full capacity of songs), and then it will randomly stop, start and skip songs halfway, so that you truly "give chance a chance".
Isn't life great when people are now marketing a lack of a standard feature as a feature? :)"
***
"Event Title: Where is God in all these?...a Christian response to the Tsunami Tragedy
Organizer: Campus Crusade for Christ
Description: A talk by Dr LT Jayachandran. Followed by a Q&A session.
Expresses the Christian outlook and response to the tragedy, and attempts to answer the question on how a Good God can allow suffering to happen.
(As well as other related questions)
Dr LT Jayachandran is the director of Ravi Zacharias international ministries Asia Pacific Ltd.
He is experienced in conducting open forums for non-Christians to express and exchange their views on the Christian faith. [Ed: Emphasis original]
Date/Time: 20th January 2005 (Thursday)
6pm to 7:45pm
Venue: LT 9"
Now, I don't think they want to open *that* can of worms.
***
"Conferment of Honorary Degree on the Sultan of Brunei
The National University of Singapore will be conferring an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree on His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam. The award will be given in recognition of His Majesty’s role in leading Brunei Darussalam in its development, as well as for His Majesty's outstanding contributions to bilateral relations between Singapore and Brunei Darussalam."
Ah, I am reminded that the hefty MOE subsidy that NUS students get is totally warranted, for our University is also used as an instrument of diplomacy, besides being the Premier Institution of Social Engineering.
***
Odd debates are going on in Wannabe Lawyer's blog regarding gambling and the stock market.
Most arguments against gambling fall into 2 categories:
1) Gambling is morally wrong
2) Gambling will have many side effects (crime, society falling into ruin, global warming, the coming of the Antichrist etc)
Shianux has already amply shown that 2) is patently false; primarily, the stock market is analogous in many ways to gambling, yet we do not see society falling to pieces (the other arguments can be read at leisure, but I will not summarise them here).
So people are therefore obliged to fall back on 1). And apart from dogmatically beating the drum of morality, they seem unable to offer any cogent arguments for why this is the case.
In amusement parks, people pay to enjoy, say, a ride on the roller coaster. They have not gained anything tangible, but have enjoyed an experience. Similarly, in casinos people pay for the thrill of gambling. Wherein the difference?
In times past (and in parts of the present Muslim world), usury (the lending of money to people on interest) was illegal because people thought it Morally Wrong to earn money on money. Today, we understand that interest has to be paid to cover the opportunity cost of the money lent, and to cover inflation, besides (and even Islamic Finance tacitly recognises this, but chooses to employ sophistic arguments and techniques to do what needs to be done).
Some also argue that in the stock market, you own a piece of the company in question, whereas in gambling, you own nothing. Somehow, this transforms gambling into a disreputable, Morally Wrong activity. But what about when people sell short, or trade foreign exchange? In the former case, people are selling things they don't actually own, on the hope of making good later. As for the forex market, people are essentially gambling on money. If money here is considered a tangible good, what about the chips that gamblers use in casinos? Claiming that using a mixture of luck and skill (mostly the former) to bet on money that may rise in value (ie the forex market) is somehow more morally acceptable than using a mixture of luck and skill (in some games like Poker, mostly the latter, I am informed) to bet on your stake, which then either rises or falls in value (ie gambling), smacks of specious reasoning to me.
Failing which, why is gambling with something you don't own wrong in the first place anyway?
***
My favourite misanthrope:
Commenting on this piece of research, FuturePundit asks:
If being drunk on alcohol at the time of getting married can be grounds for annulment then why can't being in love also be grounds for annument? After all, people in love are in an obviously naturally drugged mental state and they obviously can't think straight. So shouldn't people in love be treated as suffering from a mental handicap or a special form of mental incapacitation? Should the law treat lovers as legally competent to enter into the serious and important contract of marriage?Annulling marriages that fulfill one of the conventional criteria for successful marriages is appealingly perverse.
***
The amusing things you learn/read in Mr Brown's (who, btw, has plugged me again! Yay) comments boxes:
[On NUS's no smoking rule and fines] hmm I wonder how the uni would tally up penalties for sloth and apathy...oh wait, that's a national past-time.
best comment on NUS rules by a foreign-talent lecturer i've heard so far: "you girls cannot wear shorts to school, but they never said anything about super-short skirts." [Ed: That figures. And explains the whole half-thigh length skirt zaogeng principle]
"[On supplementary reading] It's bedtime reading... After you have done your tutorials, from 8 to 10am, you read this book from 10 to 11am. You sleep better. (pm?!)"
It's true. You get to U at 8am to the 2hr lecture, where you do your tutorials in lecture. (Sounds familiar? :)
Then you go to the (unrelated) tutorial between 10am to 11am, and catch up on the lecture by reading the book.
After which, you find a place to crash and sleep. :) The book often double-duties as a pillow too. :)
***
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