svanstrom

StrangeDays said:

svanstrom said:

Never would have guessed that I’d go from long term Apple fanboy to phasing out Apple products due to them sucking up to China and Russia. Crazy times. 

 spliff monkey said:

Jesus Christ. I’ve owned Apple computers since they were beige. I’ve had enough. Legitimately done. 

This is disgusting. What a topper to Kowtowing to China and fucking over Hong Kong protesters. 

I think this is the proverbial straw for me.  

Hope you aren’t planning to switching to Google — they did the same thing:

https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/27/apple-and-google-maps-accommodate-russias-annexation-of-crimea/

...because that’s the law in Russia, and they’re required to follow the law in the countries they do business in. Only other option is to pull out of Russia. Perhaps worth it, I don’t know. I’d love for them to give Putin the finger and exit Russia. But it’s silly to say Apple shouldn’t follow the law they’re currently compelled to follow if they wish to operate in Russia. 

Well, let me just invoke Godwin's law here as an example of how just obeying the law isn't always the right thing to do.

Never would have guessed that I’d go from long term Apple fanboy to phasing out Apple products due to them sucking up to China and Russia. Crazy times. 

maestro64 said:

tzm41 said:

The Hong Kong legislature is the prime example of putting profits over values. They are almost useless for passing laws and regulations to protect the mass from the oligarchs, who control land supply, housing price, and profit distribution... Like Li Ka-shing basically robbed the dream out of all Hong Kongers, and now he moved away with his money.

I personally believe what we are seeing in Hong Kong is more about what you pointed out than anything else. HK has business owners and working class two distinctly different classes of people. Keep in mind HK was a trading port for a long time, things were made in mainland china and move through HK to points world wide. Those who managed the trade made all the profits, Over many year HK imported people from all over the world to serve those who drive the trade business and they are now seeing they have no future and that future will be far worse once mainland China rolls around the border in 30 yrs. Those with money when this happen will be fine and everyone else will loose.

This literally started with a law that would tear down the two systems-barrier, allowing hongkongers to willy-nilly get deported into mainland extrajudicial holding facilities for unwanted citizens; and the first of the five demands is literally to have that bill completely killed… and… Your take from all that is that clearly it must all be a socioeconomic class struggle?

Are you one of those white upper middle class first year university students that start every other sentence by referencing either Marx or Lenin? 

dewme said:

jbdragon said:

A power strip with only 3 outlets on it. That's like a MINI power strip. For $100? That's just laughable to me. No thanks.

In all fairness, you should be comparing this to a trio of HomeKit smart power plugs, which generally cost $25-$30 each, not a $4.99 Harbor Freight power strip. Not sure what I'd do with it, but I could see this product being very useful for controlling the multiple electrical devices needed for operating a home aquarium/terrarium sort of thing. Would be interested in hearing how people are using these.  

Soon they’ll be $10 each from IKEA.

The HomeKit support has been lagging for the outlets though. The Trådfri team is on Reddit keeping people updated about the progress. 

cincytee said:

From a historical perspective, the mainland's attitude and official position are completely understandable, but I've always thought that talks about peaceful reunification would actually be far easier if they started from the acknowledgement that there are, in effect, two independent countries in play here. Is anyone remotely surprised that telling Taiwan that it's just a rebellious province that needs to come in from the cold hasn't been very helpful?

From a historical perspective… we're essentially talking about a country that at most could be said to be 70 years old (based on the Kuomintang fleeing to Taipei in 1949). (Even being generous modern day China must be said to be no more than 108 years old; which is if one were to pinpoint it to the Xinhai revolution back in 1911-ish.)

Modern day China's claims to regions isn't even based on their traditional lands as much as them wanting all lands that any previous dynasty controlled.

For instance there's Tibet, which historically speaking has been an area inhabited not by Han people, but by Tibetans, Monpa, Tamang, Qiang, Sherpa, and Lhoba… But being a smaller weaker region they've either been controlled by the Han or the Mongols.

As far as Taiwan… that's essentially a region that the "new China" (in this meaning essentially referring to the Chinese Communist Party) failed to occupy and control as they came to power. Meaning that the modern day China/the Chinese Communist Party never has ruled over Taiwan; as Taiwan is the last remnants of the Republic of China (which basically started with the Xinhai revolution, and ended when the communists took control).

So… is it really reasonable to accept the current mainland Chinese political rulers "historical" claims to all the regions that they say currently belong to them?