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Submission + - Apple Leads the Way on Taxes (guardian.co.uk)

mtrachtenberg writes: I've decided I'm only going to pay $5 in federal taxes this year, following Apple's "we'll pay what we want to pay" strategy. The strategy is outlined in this article from the always excellent Guardian newspaper.

Comment Re:commodity products = huge marketing $$$ (Score 1) 202

Investing in engineering is *always* a waste of resources -- why so squishy? The really important thing is getting celebrity endorsements. Without celebrity endorsements, ideas wither on the vine. Why, imagine if Jesus had never endorsed Christianity! It would still be a minor cult! And Scientology without Tom Cruise would be like, I don't know, like C without the semicolon. Lots of potential, but unrealized.

The world needs marketing. Can you imagine how the worldwide economy would collapse if people just bought long-lasting working things because their neighbor had recommended them? We'd still be calculating profits on Visicalc on the Osborne 1, and bankers would be boring, instead of exhibiting that criminal panache!

Comment Re:For example (Score 1) 202

Yes, I once discovered that my laundry could have been April-fresh, but had merely been late-March odor neutral. I still haven't fully recovered, but I did learn my lesson. When I read the trades, I now spend twice as much time on the advertising as on the advertorials. It's paid off. My clothes are static-free!

Comment She's a Model Student (Score 5, Interesting) 1078

My immediate response to this item was to wonder whether the student in question was a constant annoyance to the teachers and administrators. The original article makes it clear that she is a model student: "Kiera Wilmot got good grades and had a perfect behavior record. She wasn't the kind of kid you'd expect to find hauled away in handcuffs and expelled from school, but that's exactly what happened after an attempt at a science project went horribly wrong."

That additional information (which really should have been in Slashdot's summary, as it was properly used in the reporter's lede) makes it clear that the student is being wronged. Whether she is being wronged as a result of racism or as a result of the inherent stupidity of zero-tolerance policies (policies from which exceptions are often made for the children of the wealthy and/or powerful) remains to be determined. Perhaps both are involved.

This is a teachable moment for the school. It is an opportunity for students and faculty together to examine the nature of fairness and the nature of bureaucracy. I hope there are some tenured faculty members at the school who are interested in making good use of the opportunity.

My own suspicion is that the administrators should be fired, but I think that way about a great many administrators.

Submission + - DOJ 411: UEFI DMCA Violators DOA. GPS. 10-4?

mtrachtenberg writes: M E M O R A N D U M
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United States Department of Justice

Division for Intellectual Property Rights
and Maintenance of the Faith

Office for the Preservation of Microsoft

As per prior memoranda from this office, all points are alerted that uncooperative elements are still attempting to authorize non-Microsoft software (Linux, BSD, Z80 assembler) to run on US and Microsoft approved computing equipment.

It has been clearly established that Microsoft's financial survival is of code mauve importance to the American economy, at an equal level to that of Goldman Sachs and Citicorp. Therefore, this office is implementing Code Swartz immediately.

Drones shall lock and load on the GPS coordinates of abusers, and shall fire at will. Open source computing is like fluoridation — an assault on American values and freedom.

(P.S.: Nothing in this memorandum is to be construed as authorizing any activity illegal under the Constitution as interpreted by the Roberts court. If uncertain, contact the authorities at Guantanamo Bay.)

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