Posts by Tom 13

Re: iFace

Apple buying FB is the only thing that could cause the stock to drop even faster. I don't buy Apple things because of Jobsian control of them. I'm willing to have an FB account because even though there is data risk, it isn't Apple. If Apple buy FB, I'm gone gone, not just inactive gone.

Re: Do any large companies still NOT block Facebook apart from as a manager perk?

Depends on the company and your position in the company. With Social Media now a key segment in the advertising field, many organizations and most companies feel the need to have a "presence" on FB. You can't do that if someone doesn't have access to it. Some even encourage employees to post as a means of raising the profile. Others focus on the time risk and block it.

Re: there is no such thing as "true profits"

Spoken a like a true consfiscationist. There most certainly is a true profit, and the CEO & CFO had damn well know where it is. Because if they don't they'll go bankrupt. Same thing OUGHT to apply to the people levying in the taxes, for much the same reasons. If the accountants can't figure it out, they should lose their licenses.

Re: I think the problem is

You don't have to just "think," at this point it's pretty much proven. Every year Forbes gives 10 accountants 3 sets of theoretical books and asks professional accountants to calculate the tax due. Every year they wind up with 10 different results, none of which match the "official" numbers they get by submitting the same data to the IRS.

Re: ...did you not comprehend?

It's not so much the article as much as it is recognizing that "the hack" and yourself are just as much lying sacks of shite as Levin is. You can't just look at the cost of US taxes, you have to look at the total tax the corporation pays. EVERY country EXCEPT the US permit corporations to deduct foreign taxes when they "repatriate" their money.

Re: Warning

Honestly, I think that would only delay deployment until they issue the hard block. All it would gain them would be the satisfaction of saying "we gave you six months of on-screen warnings that your certs needed to be fixed," but in a certain sense, they've already been warning for a year.

Re: Fanatics

Or maybe he already knows it and its you who have your head stuck so far up your arse you can't see it.

By your own definitions, there was a point at which Europe was woefully behind the Muslim world in technology. The only advantage Europe had over the rest of the world was Christianity. In fact, existing trade, knowledge, and political alliances were advantages for the Muslim world over the Christian one. Yet now we are light years ahead, plus we seem to have settled down into at least non-violent if not peaceful coexistence.

Re: Last week...

Last time I checked, there wasn't a single Christian Pastor/Minister/Bishop etc. who would publicly proclaim a Christian had a RELIGIOUS right to do those things. In fact, they'd pretty much tell the heathen he was going straight to Hell if he didn't repent.

Re: The more things change...

Yep. A wise man once said 'Security is not a state, it is a process.'

Re: positive-feedbackitis

It's actually worse than that. The models use formulas that don't have have corresponding real world phenomena because using those formulas makes the data sort of work, where as using the formula you'd get from the real world phenomena produces an obviously bad result. A mathematician friend of mine who works in the field doesn't see a problem with this approach as long as the model produces reasonably accurate predictive results. I do because it indicates that while we may have maths that are helpful, we understand nothing about the way the system really works. To me it's the ancient Greeks being able to chart where the planets would be even though they put the Earth at the center of the universe and thought heavy objects fell faster than light ones. I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it if the people behind the models would admit as much and work at getting a better understanding of the real physics involved rather than heading off on a political jihad.

It DOES necessarily follow that massive amounts need to be extracted.

I learned it as the First Law of Thermodynamics. And even "deniers" don't claim we don't use "massive amounts of energy."

The question is, "what effect if any does the extraction have on the environment."

@Psyx

Leave the troll alone. He's just found a new term and he doesn't know what it means so it must be evil. Progressives are like that.

I'm not a libertarian myself, but I know what the term means and I respect their logical faculties.

Re: reasons for doubting the statistics.

If the questions are garbage, the statistics are irrelevant. I just read the survey, and the questions are garbage. The head shrinkers had an axe to grind, so the survey will produce that result.

Re: This could've been an interesting take on the story...

Wowsers! I love this one:

7. The Iraq War in 2003 was launched for reasons other than to remove WMD from Iraq

1 S Agree 2 Agree 3 Disagree 4 S Disagree

Unlike most El Reg Posters, I support the 2003 Iraqi invasion, and even I'd Strongly agree with that statement. Saying anything else would be to focus on a single sentence out of 100s from the UN speech. Certainly doesn't make me a conspiracy theorist.

Re: @DougS

1) 70% is sufficient for regulation.

2) I think I can argue that its the Apps market that makes the smart phone/tablet markets valuable, therefore they constitute a relevant market. More importantly are in the early growth part of their curve. The PC curve was probably farther along than tablets, which makes anti-competitive behavior even more problematic.

3) Given 2 Apple is leveraging their legally held OS monopoly into the Apps market.

The essentials of the argument are the same. After that it all depends on whether or not you think the MS case was justly settled. On that count, while I believe MS rode roughshod over the law and the markets in the case, at the end of they day they did say one true thing in their defense: the way the government tried the case was more about putting the government in charge of MS OS development than it was about restoring balance to the market place. So on balance MS winning was less bad than the government winning. But it never leaves a good taste in the mouth when you are settling for the lesser of two evils.

Re: can partially compete w Google.

NOBODY can compete, even partially, with Google in the ad space.

Yes, they have potentially valuable information, but I have to concur with the previous poster, FB's best shot at making money is to figure out how to leverage that information for purchasing, which would give them something to leverage against the other shopping sites. Mind you, that doesn't mean their best shot has better than 50/50 odds. In fact, I'd peg them at closer to 20/80 and then only IF they get moving on it soon.

Re: "Facebook needs to get a direction "

If you regard the initial valuation as the "insider trading" it could be comparable. One of the reasons we have the current regulatory regime is to inhibit market manipulations from such insider trading. When we get under the rubic of clean and fair assessment from the regulator it is double bad.

Re: it does look like deliberate market manipulation with the blessing of the SEC.

Yep, which is why I would support a lawsuit from the shareholders.

Re: "con men at the top"

Investing in the stock market is a RISK, not a gamble. A risk can be hedged by proper planning, prior experience at launching new companies, and other things. Yes a new business that doesn't produce anything has a much higher risk than anything else that I can think of in the market. BUT, the people pricing and backing the offering still have a FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY to the investors who will buy the IPO and the company offering the IPO. I don't like roulette wheel lawsuits, but in this instance I would fully support IPO purchasers pursuing an obviously bungled offering. It is time to start holding the charlatans accountable. I might even be willing to grant some leeway for purchasers in the first week or two bringing similar suits, although much after that and I think we get beyond the bounds of common sense.