Letters to the Editor
Green Lantern
Published Letters: 55
-
Well, DUH.
[Read the article: Please stop whining, iPhone early adopters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In 1984, while in grad school, I bought the very first Apple MacIntosh computer model on the market. When I headed to the store, my plan was to get an Apple 2E--but I was seduced by progress: that clear, pale grey screen and cute little all-in-one box...the awesome drawing (made on the computer itself!) of the beautiful Asian woman brushing her hair...that was it. Hooked--to the tune of $2,100 (Did I mention grad school? In 1983? That was a LOT of money). That baby had no hard drive--you had to have a system folder on every newly-designed hard-shell, "not quite floppy" disk. It was slow. I think it had 28K (K!!) of memory. But you couldn't beat the cool.
Last year, I bought about my 12th? 15th? Mac--a MacBook Pro with an Intel chip, gigs and gigs of memory. It's sleek, silvery, fast--and ran about $2,100.
Anyone who doesn't know that the first model out of any electronic device will cost more hasn't been paying attention. When the iPhone came out, I was hooked, too--but planned all along to wait until this December or January to get one. Still am.
-
Don't count his chickens
[Read the article: I resent my fiancé because he is rich]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Rich parents do not necessarily mean a rich son. Your fiance's parents may choose to create a non-profit foundation or donate all or most of their money to charity. They may disinherit their children, or live healthy lives well into their 90s (leaving you & fiancee in your 60s or 70s). Or, perhaps they will encounter a drawn-out illness that uses up their resources. Or they'll lose it in the stock market. You get the picture. This is not a sure thing. Life is not a sure thing.
You're not marrying the parents, you're engaged to marry the son. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders and to be making his own way in the world, seemingly without feeling entitled to parental help in matters of day-to-day survival.
So, what's different here is pretty much entirely in your head. I wonder why he didn't tell you more about his background earlier (did he suspect that you would react poorly?). Whatever. Talk to him. Tell him it wierds you out a bit to think about how different your backgrounds were. Look for commonalities. Think about counseling. He sounds like a keeper, and this doesn't sound like a reason to throw him back.
-
EBooks are too pricey to catch on
[Read the article: Amazon's Kindle won't spark your e-book fire]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry, NOT buying that $8 or $9 or $10 for an eBook is a steal. As a REALLY voracious reader (with an older eBook device), I can't afford my own reading habits. No Barnes & Noble or Borders to buy new books for me--when I can easily read 1-2/day, it's just too pricey. My books come from used bookstores for $2 or less. Libraries are too slow & never have what I want when I want it.
When a real paperback book goes for $7.99 to about $14.00, and eBooks need NO paper, NO shipping, NO ink--we're really just talking about the intellectual property of the book itself and the editing. Why should eBooks sell for $6-10, then? IMHO, if they cost $2-3, the whole eBook thing would finally take off. For now, we're still left with the innovators and haven't even made it to early adopters. I don't think Amazon's new toy is going to change that.
-
Vote for the Anti-Bush!
[Read the article: Undecided '08: Should I vote for Clinton or Obama?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wow, amazing that a Presidential primary election is being brought down to the relatively trivial level of "woman" vs. "minority." How sexist and racist is THAT?
Much as Hilary seems to be a bright person, she is also polarizing, opportunistic, and lacks the genius social skills that used to characterize her husband (until he lost it in the last week or two). She failed miserably when she tried to reform healthcare in Bill's first administration, and her current "plan" is uninspired at best. People who HATE her will come out to the polls solely to vote for her opponent. And do we really want dynastic leadership in the U.S.? Doesn't seem it's served us too well so far.
I would have voted for Edwards, but now my vote is going to Obama. He's ARTICULATE (oh, GOD, have I missed having a world leader who can string together a coherent sentence and isn't a global embarrassment). Obama is INSPIRING, and we need inspiration perhaps more than anything else. He's firing up the kids--and it would be hard to say it's not time to give them a shot at choosing a better leader, given the appalling job we've (supposedly) done in the past two terms.
Incidentally, has anyone noticed that what Republicans really want (and have seized over the past 7 years) is just a rehash of "Trickle Down Economics." HellO, it DOESN'T WORK to make the super rich ultra rich and expect that their spending will fuel growth. The reason we had such prosperity under Clinton1 is because wealth was distributed to the working and middle classes. It's a numbers name, and no big surprise why we're losing...
-
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...
[Read the article: A guide to Super Tuesday's riskiest voting machines]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...he's just a friendly fellow from Diebold, um, "fixing" the machine. Yes, that's it!
The single biggest threat to our Democracy (such as it is) is paperless e-voting with no paper trail. In not one, but TWO previous Presidential elections, the results were compromised at best--and garbage that permitted a coup d' etat at worst--by machines that were untrustworthy.
Anyone who doesn't want a paper trail for voting machines has something to hide. Interesting how Diebold can make ATMs with paper receipts, but is somehow unable to do the same for votes...
-
Small bags under the seat, PLEASE!
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just had to toss in my airline boarding pet peeve--morons who put their small bags or jackets in the overhead bins so folks can't put their roller bags up there, and everyone has to wait while things are juggled around or bags are gate-checked. Arghh!!!