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Apples, Walled Gardens, and Screw Deals - Oh My!

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Stoic Joker:
Interesting though that the one thing you guys would not want to give up is the web connection. It's weird how important the web has become in our lives, something that did not exist in the current form a mere 20 years ago.-phitsc (June 09, 2011, 01:13 AM)
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That ones been bugging me to. How exactly do you go "off-the-grid", while being on the internet? Aren't those sort of diametrically apposed concepts?

40hz:
^It is interesting...

When I first wrote my list of essential takealongs, the books, musical instrument(s), and computer got put down immediately.  Mainly because I've been thinking about this subject for a very long time. But as I was looking at the list, it somehow didn't look quite right. After some additional thought, I realized I really wouldn't want to completely give up a web connection. At least not by choice.

So you're right. The web has changed many people's perspectives in very deep and subtle ways. I know the reason why having that link is important to me. But that reason doesn't go into words that easily. At least for me. Which is further indication some deeper thought processes are involved.

Gonna have to ponder that one a bit and see if I can articulate my reasons why the web would be a factor in my current notion of happiness. Because it didn't used to be.

Hmm... :huh:

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P.S. I also realized I left out one other absolutely essential item from my 'happiness' list: coffee!  :  ;D

40hz:
Interesting though that the one thing you guys would not want to give up is the web connection. It's weird how important the web has become in our lives, something that did not exist in the current form a mere 20 years ago.-phitsc (June 09, 2011, 01:13 AM)
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That ones been bugging me to. How exactly do you go "off-the-grid", while being on the internet?
-Stoic Joker (June 09, 2011, 07:05 AM)
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You're absolutely right. You can't.

But in my case I wouldn't want to go completely off the grid. (Unless maybe the Feds were after me. :mrgreen: )

I'm thinking more in terms of 'simplifying' and 'paring down' rather than 'abandoning.'

Despite occasional lapses of patience with what I consider stupidity, I very much enjoy the company of other people. Even if it's just online. Because you really can't live alone. Even in Antarctica! ;D

Actually, when you think about it, the more remote a place you go to, the more you'll need to depend on what few people are there simply to survive. So if you want to eliminate the need to depend on other people any more than you have to, a big city is a far better choice of residence since so many human interactions have been replaced by automation in areas of dense population.

A guy living in a penthouse in New York City has a better opportunity to live completely alone than does some guy counting penguins on a glacier shelf.

Rather paradoxical.

If you truly want to be alone, your best bet is a dense population center.   8)

superboyac:
I've thought about this lately, and this is how I justify it to myself.  It's not being on or off the grid that is my end goal.  It's not like I have some psychological problem with technology and I want to clean myself of it.  My problem is the rat race, i don't care for it.  but I also know that I do very much like the modern conveniences like internet, and am dependant on it for just about everything.  My main "fear" is with the global financial system...I feel helpless in it.  If I choose to participate as I'm doing now, I'm just going to go after more and more money, all with the purpose of helping me achieve my true desires ultimately.  But I'm not seeing an end to it.  It's just going to be me chasing after money and all the things that go along with it.  And I don't care for it.

That's why a possible solution is to just go out and live in the middle of nowhere.  Garden for food, work with your neighbors to fill each other's missing needs (i.e. a community).  But for the most part, I'll have financial freedom.  I wouldn't need too much to live that way.  The reason why I need to computer is so I can focus on creating content, learning, exploring, which is a requirement for me.  I can consume the media through the interent, produce my own work on the computer and websites.  If I were to try to do this 100 years ago, instead of having a computer/internet, I'd like to be relatively close to a university.  I need somewhere to get knowledge and explore and communicate ideas to people.  That's why the internet is required.  How's that, 40?

40hz:



Well it finally happened. Somebody got fed up enough with the e-book agency model that a lawsuit has been filed.

From Matthew Lasar over at ArsTechnica.com

Apple, publishers conspired against $9.99 Amazon e-books, says lawsuit

"Terrified" by Amazon's Kindle e-reader and discounted e-book pricing, five major publishers allegedly acted together to increase e-book prices and compel Amazon to abandon its discount sales strategy. That's the gist of a new class action antitrust lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California by the Hagens Berman litigation group.

The five book sellers named in the suit are HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin Group Inc., and Simon & Schuster Inc, plus one more defendant: Apple.

"Fortunately for the publishers, they had a co-conspirator as terrified as they were over Amazon's popularity and pricing structure, and that was Apple," charges Hagen Berman attorney Steve Berman. "We intend to prove that Apple needed a way to neutralize Amazon's Kindle before its popularity could challenge the upcoming introduction of the iPad, a device Apple intended to compete as an e-reader."

The essence of the claim is that these publishers, in coordination with Apple, conspired to nix the low price e-books that Amazon launched in 2007. Amazon wanted to quickly gain market share with its Kindle, the court filing observes, the first version of which sold out in less than a quarter of a day. And so, capitalizing on its "first mover" advantage, Amazon sold e-books at prices conspicuously lower than physical books—many titles were made available for $9.99.

This had to be stopped, the class action charges.
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The lawsuit charges Apple and the publishers with violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and several other federal laws. It names two individual plaintiffs who bought an e-book at a price higher than $9.99—after the Apple/publisher agency model deal.

"Once approved, the lawsuit would represent any purchaser of an e-book published by a major publisher after the adoption of the agency model by that publisher," the law firm's class action suit website pledges.

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Read the full article here

 8)

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