[NTLK] [OT} Re: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 + Einstein = Match Made in Heaven?

[James Fraser]

Hello,


>I was in a department store looking at iPad accessories one day and I overheard 
>a conversation right >next to me between a young woman who was buying a new iPad 
>2 and a salesperson...the conversation >was about getting a case for it. The 
>salesperson suggested she should get a case because a) it would >help protect 
>the device from accidental bumps and drops...and 2) it would also protect it 
>from theft, as it >wouldn't be obvious what it was to "prying eyes". 
>

Maybe it's just me, but personally, I found the second purported advantage to be 
dubious as hell.  : /

(Was this salesperson on commission?)

>The young woman said, "But it's PRETTY! I don't WANT to cover it up! How will 
>people know that I >HAVE an iPad?" 
>

There's something ineffably sad about this.  Maybe I'm being oversensitive here, 
but my heart dropped into my boots when I read that.  I mean, is that all she 
has going for her, her toys?  I hope not.  I can't help but think that if 
someone's sense of self-worth is tied up too tightly in their stuff, they are 
going to move through life in a state of constant disappointment.

(Congratulations to the folks in charge of Apple branding though.  You know, 
credit where credit is due and all that.)


>I'm not lumping all the people here in the Western US as idiots...but from what 
>I've seen, with the >exception of Los Angeles (which at times has appeared to me 
>to be almost like a West Coast version of >New York City), people don't seem to 
>me to be as cautious here.

Being a denizen of the Western US myself, I wouldn't classify much of what I see 
going on around me daily as idiocy so much as mind-numbingly intense 
self-absorption (to-may-to, to-mah-to, perhaps?).

I remember trying to navigate a parking lot with a friend of mine when this guy 
went sailing by in his car, steering wheel in one hand, enormous fountain 
beverage-style cup in the other (one of those massive, 64-ounce bladder-buster 
jobs).  Now, tying up one driving hand by clutching an enormous beverage in it 
is a total Bozo no-no to start with, but -this- guy had his massive plastic cup 
raised to his face in such a way that, if he could see where he was going in his 
moving vehicle, he certainly had me fooled.

My friend, a laconic type, turned to me and dryly remarked, "A man with 
priorities."


Best,

James Fraser