Give it Back to the Shareholders
Interesting. Michael Dell famously said in 1997 that if he were Steve Jobs he would shut Apple down and give the money back to the shareholders. Dustin Curtis points out that Apple's newly announced quarterly dividend will pay out approximately equivalent of Apple's 1997 market cap every quarter.
The Storm that Didn't Come
I always find watching weather patterns interesting. Today, several lines of storms looked like they were on a collision course with St. Louis, but one way or another missed us. Now the forecast has the storms trying another pass through the area early in the coming morning. I keep thinking I hear thunder off in the distance, so perhaps they shall still arrive.
I do hope if we get storms that they don't put an end to all the flowering trees' displays for the year. The trees look just grand right now.
On Apple's Cash
What could they be planning tomorrow? Perhaps a dividend would be appropriate, but I think it would be wise for them to keep most of their massive $100 billion cash pile in reserve for a rainy day or a helpful major acquisition.
Late Night Haiku XL
CXII. Lightning flashes about
The stormy mid-March night sky,
A tempest held back.
CXIII. I have known the storm,
And heard thunder now restrained,
Mighty hammers stilled.
CXIV. Though rain has past us,
Violent clouds address the sky,
Quarrel with the wind.
Hexane Evanescent
Rob Shmitz wrote a piece today on Mike Daisey, who has given interviews and published articles all across mass media speaking of the horrors he saw at Apple's manufacturing partner, Foxconn, in China. The trouble is, he made them all up:
“Look. I'm not going to say that I didn't take a few shortcuts in my passion to be heard. But I stand behind the work,” Daisey said. “My mistake, the mistake I truly regret, is that I had it on your show as journalism. And it's not journalism. It's theater.”
Public Radio International deserves credit for quickly retracting the story fully (unlike the New York Times, which merely says there are questions concerning the Op-Ed it published from Daisey).
Obviously, there are human rights concerns within the Chinese manufacturing complex. But, Daisey's critiques have always come off troubling, since he has focused on exposing horrendous “truths” about a company that normally appears to be very concerned about worker conditions in China (i.e. Apple). Now the reason it is troubling has become clear: Daisey's “truths” were false. And, while he claims he was purely being theatrical, he certainly didn't indicate that in his NYT Op-Ed or any of dozens of other places he “reported.”
Red Rock
One of the most fascinating pictures from T.S. Eliot's the Waste Land:
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, 23
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
Britannica's Demise
The New York Times reports:
In an acknowledgment of the realities of the digital age — and of competition from the Web site Wikipedia — Encyclopaedia Britannica will focus primarily on its online encyclopedias and educational curriculum for schools. The last print version is the 32-volume 2010 edition, which weighs 129 pounds and includes new entries on global warming and the Human Genome Project.
The end of an era. A 244 year era.
82
The temperature in Fahrenheit that we reached today here in St. Charles County. Incredible, beautiful weather.
Windows 8 Browsers
It seems that Microsoft had to create a special category of applications to permit third party web browsers in its new Metro user interface. The new interface, much like Apple's iOS used on iPhones and iPads, places significant restrictions on what applications can do. But, unlike iOS, these restrictions apply to the new preferred interface for Microsoft's desktop operating system. And, that makes things a whole lot more complicated than they are with a phone and tablet OS.
I'm still uncertain about Windows 8's fusion of a desktop and tablet OS. This new complication just seems like another demonstration of the roadblocks Microsoft faces in making the next Windows a viable operating system.
