Just my luck: my PC went down last week. I gave up trying to fix it. Instead, I bought a new one. I'll set it up tonight or tomorrow night.
BTW: what is up with not being able to use my Apple to watch YouTube? BlackBerry from Tokyo
Sarah Palin - took herself out of the race even before it began.
Newt - I think he screwed up so badly with his initial endorsement of Palin that he should be disqualified to ever again hold public office.
Bobby from Louisiana - nope, he screwed up with his response to President Obama televised to the entire world. Stick with fixing the aftermatch of Katrina and you might have a chance in 2016 or 2020.
Sanford - well, he royally screwed the pooch with his on-air admission of his love affair. Not going to rebound in time for 2012.
Rush - huh? Is he still alive?
Rudi G - nope. His marriage to his cousin knocked him out with the social conservatives.
Huckabee - well, if Chuck Norris has his way, Huck might be the nominee.
How rude the staff was at the tameike sanno location. Sitting there reading my book and then, boom. Outta there. I won't go back to that location ever. Hey, Starbucks Japan KK, please go back and read your Customer Service Manual. Fuck you.
BlackBerry from Tokyo
California IOUs: It has come to this. Incredible.
Here's my advice to state legislators and federal officials.
How to Solve the Budget Crisis
1) Full amnesty for illegal/undocumented aliens. Pay a fine of $2,500 for each adult. Children charged at $25.00.
2) Clunkers for cash: any car more than 5 years of age much be pulled from the streets. Get $5,000 tax credit.Buy GM or Ford, get another $5,000 tax credit. Buy Toyota or Honda, get $1,500. Trade a clunker for a motorcyle, get another $12,000. Or get a bicycle, value up to $1,000, free.
3) Mandatory education (public, private, etc) until the age of 25; this will keep a large portion of the population in education and allow the employment rate to rise significantly.
4) Raise sales tax to 18%. Lower payroll taxes by 75%. Institute a flat tax at the federal level of 11%. Inheritance tax (death tax) set at 75%.
5) Turn prisons in manufacturing plants. Minimum wage per hour set at $25.00. All monies earned will be pooled at paid to victims of crimes.
6) Raise all road fees by 500%. Encourage more mass transit infrastructure. More air travel within the state.
7) Turn all prisons into for-profit corporations.
8) Make English and Spanish official languages.
9) Women who are willing to forgo an abortion should be compensated for bringing the fetus to full term the sum of $25,000. Monies to be paid by adopting parents (regardless of sex or sexual orientation) and church groups.
10) Churchs shall be permitted to be engaged more in community activities and social welfare and educational programmes.
11) Trade in your in-state university student loans for 10 years of public service; loan balance up to $250,000.
12) Body Mass Index ratings for tax credit of $5,000 per person; if BMI is within 2% of recommended level, get tax credit.
Real problems deserve serious debate.
Thank God I'm a Canadian. Wishing all my fellow Canucks around the world a very Happy Bday.
BlackBerry from Tokyo
Six months down. Another six months to go until we can celebrate a new year.
So much has happened in these past six months. The US witnessed the swearing in of President Obama. China marked its anniversary/no anniversary of Tin Sq. A couple of (fake) GOP senators shed some tears for their youthful transgressions. Jon Stewart still is a funny guy. And I am still working way too much overtime. I clocked in just undert 78 hours of OT this month. Great. This puts me at just over the 375-hour mark for the first six months of the year. Is there any law against this much OT?
Welcome home. So glad to hear that you are back. Take it easy and don't push yourself too hard. Best regards, strategist BlackBerry from Tokyo
As the world continues to face huge hardships in economic growth, many companies are looking toward China as the 'promised land' for future global demand. My simple question to all capitalists is this: how much risk are you willing to bear?
The Chinese government can, at anytime, seize your assets and call it even. Why would the CCP do this? Why not? Who is going to stop them? Think about how China was closed off the West for so long. And think again about how China could do it again? Perhaps, the 5-year plan for the government is to suck in as much capital and natural resources over the next five years and then, BOOM. The great wall goes back up and all foreigners are locked out again.
I, for one, would not be willing to risk one dollar of capital in China. There are so many growth opportunities in the world and I would rather put capital to work elsewhere. In my opinion, China will be ready in about 25 years.
I hate to pop the bubble of fantasy thinking but I it is time for Western capitalists to wake up and understand what is truly happening in Asia.
Why does the WSJ report such 'unnewsworthing items' anymore? Who cares whether some smuck rips off some poor sap who wanted to reap huge annual returns of 20-30% per year? I really don't care anymore. There are so many stories of 'trusted advisors/fund managers' going to the dark side and 'commiting outright fraud'. Really - who the fxxk cares anymore? Shouldn't the WSJ report on something else?
Get Danny Pang off the stage. His 15-minutes of 'fame/infamy' is over. Get off the stage. Next!
I don't think foreign PC makers can convince the Chinese government from reversing their controversial policy of demanding the installation of some (tracking/web filtering/monitoring) software on all PCs shipped to/into China from 1 July. The only way the Chinese government would ever drop such a high barrier to PC makers is when they perfect a 'human tracking/camera embedded in the eye' software/hardware for each of the 1.3 billion people in the country.
China wants to track and follow everyone in the country. Once this technology is perfected, the government need not care what people do with their PCs: the government will actually see what they are doing through the government-installed camera in every citizen's left eye/right eye.
I am quite sure some company based in Silicon Valley, Austin Texas, Boston Mass, or Waterloo Ont is working on the design specs right now.
Just think when you go in for an eye exam, some government-backed doctor will place a few eye drops in both eyes with nano-size bots in the liquid. Once inside, the bots will embed themselves right at the back of the eye and voila - we have a live connection.
Instead of the West screaming about installing stupid software onto PCs, the West should think of ways of preventing the tracking of humans by the Chinese government. How about tin foil hats or something like that?
Dear CN:
Now that you have cancelled the magazine, will you reimburse me for the remaining portion of my annual subscription? If 'no', why?
Unhapy ex-subscriber
The only question I have for Jonathan is 'how lean do you want the animal to be?'
With more headcount reductions, you are begging for the rest of the staff to bail out and run for the hills.
Eating a big breakie today. I am spending the day at Jetro gathering research for global biz projects. Going on 4 hrs of rack time. Only 14 hrs of sleep since Sunday. More sleep needed. BlackBerry from Tokyo
Only time will tell whether or not the mass demonstrations spell/predict the end of rule by the hardliners in Iran. Let's hope that the world holds the current powers-to-be fully responsible for all the bloodshed over the past week.
The US and the EU must stand ready to do what is right for the region: do not let the the hardliners portray the West as 'meddling in internal affairs of the state'.
Excellent. I hope they will make another one soon. BlackBerry from Tokyo
2 work days completed; 26 hours at work. 3 more days to go. 40 hours of work. Yup. 66 hours of work a week. 26 hours of OT a week. Life is grand.
I wonder whether they teach MBA students how to burn out the servants in an attempt to keep payroll costs down. As people quit, die or kill themselves, the company need not worry about paying raises each year.
I would love to take on that study for my PhD: f'ed up capitalists kill off staff in order to save on labour costs.
The train is getting crowded; it is 06h20. Guess everyone is putting in 25 hours of OT per week as well.
When will I win the lottery? BlackBerry from Tokyo
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