I think there is some confusion about the Republican party. Trump is not an anomaly. He is an incarnation. Republicans were and are very happy with Trump, and they still adore him. Republicans also know that a lot of American voters loathe Trump, so they need to SAY they don't like him, they want to move on and so on.
As Nancy Reagan would have explained it, they just say "no". They don't mean it. They actually want it. Look at how 2016 played out. It was all "just don't throw me in the briar patch", and when Trump won, it was "born and bred in the briar patch". I know that Uncle Remus stories are out of fashion, and for good reason, but that story should be more familiar and could be retold without the offensive stereotypes.
Consider the scene in Pretty Baby after Brooke Shields' character, a young girl raised in a whorehouse, auctions off her virginity. Everyone, the whores, the johns and even the underage prostitute joins in a celebration. Meanwhile, the guy who won the auction and got his sex with a virgin slinks out the back way. That's the Republican dilemma. There's what they want, and there's just how horrifying their wants are.
I've been intrigued and doubtful about the iPad Pro. I expect to use my 2015 macbook air till the battery dies or some such (as my unique computer, or anyway the unique device I use as a computer, sometimes with a 2nd monitor). And then I suppose replace it by a new macbook air if they don't discontinue them or break something along the way. And I like having unix underneath, for tweaks, grep, and the like.
The iPad series doesn't allow Turing complete apps, in particular no real versions of TeX, not to mention the software I use on the rare occasions that I actually need to compute something. So it's not a computer as far as I'm concerned. Though when my iPad 2 finally breaks in a more serious way than its slightly cracked screen, I suppose I might see whether the Pro is something I'd want to use as more than a reader, which is what my iPad does, and does well.
iPad Pro. However fast it is, there are limitations with an OS that uses apps almost entirely bought from the iTunes store. Is the form factor that much better than the current crop of ultra-slim laptops, whether Apple's for the new chip or others running Windows? This must surely be a preference based on needs and wants. I use an old iPad to read and watch streaming movies in bed. My main computer is a Windows desktop and I have yet to replace my Apple laptop as I have little need for mobility.
However fast its new chip is, I dislike Apple increasingly closing the gates to its walled garden. This was what Microsoft was trying to do, but seems to have backed off.
Interesting context. What is currently of concern is the war drums becoming louder in the US and Australia. There seems to be a desire to start a war, presumably to prevent China gaining its global hegemony this century.
Is war fruitless, even for the victors? Certainly economically, and a modern war with all the stops removed could be civilization ending. But we also know that WWI ended the culture prevalent before 1914, and by the end of WWII, the old social structure in Europe was largely washed away. If only we could be sure the same would happen again, rather than leaving the globe in tatters.
I think there is some confusion about the Republican party. Trump is not an anomaly. He is an incarnation. Republicans were and are very happy with Trump, and they still adore him. Republicans also know that a lot of American voters loathe Trump, so they need to SAY they don't like him, they want to move on and so on.
As Nancy Reagan would have explained it, they just say "no". They don't mean it. They actually want it. Look at how 2016 played out. It was all "just don't throw me in the briar patch", and when Trump won, it was "born and bred in the briar patch". I know that Uncle Remus stories are out of fashion, and for good reason, but that story should be more familiar and could be retold without the offensive stereotypes.
Consider the scene in Pretty Baby after Brooke Shields' character, a young girl raised in a whorehouse, auctions off her virginity. Everyone, the whores, the johns and even the underage prostitute joins in a celebration. Meanwhile, the guy who won the auction and got his sex with a virgin slinks out the back way. That's the Republican dilemma. There's what they want, and there's just how horrifying their wants are.
Another stray space in the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxPNaYPPkCs
I've been intrigued and doubtful about the iPad Pro. I expect to use my 2015 macbook air till the battery dies or some such (as my unique computer, or anyway the unique device I use as a computer, sometimes with a 2nd monitor). And then I suppose replace it by a new macbook air if they don't discontinue them or break something along the way. And I like having unix underneath, for tweaks, grep, and the like.
The iPad series doesn't allow Turing complete apps, in particular no real versions of TeX, not to mention the software I use on the rare occasions that I actually need to compute something. So it's not a computer as far as I'm concerned. Though when my iPad 2 finally breaks in a more serious way than its slightly cracked screen, I suppose I might see whether the Pro is something I'd want to use as more than a reader, which is what my iPad does, and does well.
iPad Pro. However fast it is, there are limitations with an OS that uses apps almost entirely bought from the iTunes store. Is the form factor that much better than the current crop of ultra-slim laptops, whether Apple's for the new chip or others running Windows? This must surely be a preference based on needs and wants. I use an old iPad to read and watch streaming movies in bed. My main computer is a Windows desktop and I have yet to replace my Apple laptop as I have little need for mobility.
However fast its new chip is, I dislike Apple increasingly closing the gates to its walled garden. This was what Microsoft was trying to do, but seems to have backed off.
re: Wilhelmine China
Interesting context. What is currently of concern is the war drums becoming louder in the US and Australia. There seems to be a desire to start a war, presumably to prevent China gaining its global hegemony this century.
Is war fruitless, even for the victors? Certainly economically, and a modern war with all the stops removed could be civilization ending. But we also know that WWI ended the culture prevalent before 1914, and by the end of WWII, the old social structure in Europe was largely washed away. If only we could be sure the same would happen again, rather than leaving the globe in tatters.