Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 54 Editor's Choice: 3
-
Surely you jest...
[Read the article: Once and for all, proof that Macs are cheaper than PCs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]After just a year or two of use, a Windows machine gets so gummed up with spyware, viruses and other nasty stuff that it seems malicious to ask anybody for money for the thing.
That's hardly the reason for the poor resale value of a PC. In fact, anyone who knows anything about reselling machines knows they should wipe the system (and hopefully reinstall the OS) before selling it; the alternative is sending a machine full of your private data to the new buyer. (If Mac owners don't do this, they're even less tech-savvy than I'm giving them credit for being.)
In general, PCs have poor resale value for two reasons:
- Parts are commonly available for custom upgrades.
- Widespread vendor competition drives down the price of PCs and parts. Macs, being proprietary and a tiny fraction of the total market, are rarer and thus worth more in the aftermarket; PCs are commodities.
It's worth noting that many PC enthusiasts actually do something similar to what you're doing now; they buy the latest and greatest parts for their machines every few months, then sell them on eBay for around 75% of the original price to fund their next acquisition. Like buying a Mac, this still reflects a certain diminishing return -- but it's a price they pay for their lifestyle choice.
-
Palpable anger...
[Read the article: Dowd: Are (Hillary's) women necessary? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But to read the posts here, the anger is palpable among Obama's followers -- especially the women! And, wow, does it ever get dished out and served piping hot at Hillary and Hillary supporters.
I'll admit to feeling a bit of anger towards Hillary supporters, although usually it's closer to incredulousness. I have never understood the attraction some people feel to her; she's not particularly distinguished, she's repeatedly demonstrated that she's not particularly principled, and even her claims of experience ultimately amount to having a ringside seat for events other people actually handled. The few things she has been handed since she left her law practice have, in my opinion, generally been mishandled pretty horribly. And it's no secret that Hillary is loathed by voters in a way that Obama is not; many people condescend towards Obama, but they hate Hillary.
So I have come to believe that Hillary supporters endorse her run at the presidency precisely because they're aware of this latter tendency. They know people hate her, and that's precisely what they want to provoke; they want the controversy, the constant brinksmanship, the opportunity to triumph or to be victimized. But even the thought of another four years of that, albeit from the other side, exhausts me.
At the end of the day, Hillary is transparently a product of the corporate machine driving the old-school Democratic Party, and that disgusts me to my core. I honestly don't know whether Obama is -- but unlike almost any other candidate in the last twenty years, he seems to know the right things to say. His weakness is that I can't point to any proof that he means them -- but the mere fact that he and his speechwriters at least know what they are is a positive sign, albeit a very thin straw for grasping.
-
@Arroyocat & ljwalker53....
[Read the article: Dowd: Are (Hillary's) women necessary? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please write so the reader can more easily follow your nasty comments filled with untruths and venom. Your sentence structure could be improved along with your ability to reason fairly and justly.
I'm sorry my sentence structure, as impeccable as it was, still happened to be too complex for you to follow easily. I can only assume that it is for this reason that you failed to recognize the fairness and justice in my reasoning. :) I'll try in the future to write at a third-grade level for the sake of all the Hillary supporters on the board. *grin*
-------------
Here are a couple of suggestions: stop putting "us" into the position of victims/castrating b******; try to contain your condescension and patronism. You might not acknowledge it, but we are actually thoughtful, highly educated and informed.
Believe it or not, I tried. I'm friends with more than a few Hillary supporters, after all, so it's not like I've concluded that they're all shallow idiots.
But for all that they may be thoughtful, educated, and informed, the two things every Hillary supporter I've run into have in common with every other one is this: they're all beneficiaries of the status quo, and they're all big fans of drama.
That sums up, to me the appeal of Hillary: she'll bring lots of drama and no actual change, which is great for people that like to get very excited about nothing.
-
Of course she's a terrorist.
[Read the article: Is Briana Waters a terrorist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Assuming she really was there, holding the walkie-talkie, she aided and abetted the conscious destruction of property with the explicit intent of terrorizing a civilian population into abandoning its goals. That we might be somewhat sympathetic to her cause does not mean that we need to consider approving her methods.
If we choose to punish terrorism more harshly than other crimes -- if, as with hate crimes, we apply harsher sentencing structures and enforcement mechanisms to penalize someone for their intentions, not just the actual details of their crimes -- then we need to apply that punishment evenly.
-
FILF drinks
[Read the article: Make mine a Mrs. Robinson!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Some obvious ones spring to mind:
The Sean Connery:
Scotch and soda on the rocks. Shaken. Add a peppermint stick.
The Jack Nicholson:
Make a cool gin martini, medium-to-heavy on the vermouth. Prepare two identical cocktail garnishes by spearing a single curl of lemon peel and an olive. Put these, olive side down, on opposite sides of the glass, to strongly suggest eyebrows.
-
I almost feel sorry for Wilentz....
[Read the article: Why Hillary Clinton should be winning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think he realizes what's happened. It's like he's still standing there, blinking in surprise, while the world has moved on and away from him.
-
To be frank....
[Read the article: Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It matters not one whit to me that Hillary is female. And yet I do viscerally dislike her -- and are slowly coming to dislike her supporters, who appear unable to realize that my visceral dislike of her has nothing to do with her sex and everything to do with her behavior.