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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fraterseraphino | |
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From Slashdot: What the iPod tells us about Britain's economic future For one, although in trade statistics the Chinese export value for a unit of a 30GB video model in 2006 was about $150 (in other words for every iPod sold $150 went onto the Chinese exports ledger) Chinese producers really only “earned” around $4. China, you see, is really just the place where most of the other components that go inside the iPod are shipped and assembled. The remaining cash instead went to the US, Japan and a host of other countries (among which the UK is one) who made the parts that go inside. In other words, where the product is not necessarily where gets the lion’s share of the profits.
...
Due to the way trade statistics are compiled, these flows of cash back to the US are unlikely to show up in the trade balance. But when you work out the overall US balance of payments, it will show that cash has flowed back into the country as a direct result of the intellectual property Apple owns in the iPod. It is a cursory reminder that we don’t necessarily need to hammer steel and bash products together here in the UK in order to become a better-balanced manufacturer.
There was all sorts of hand-wringing that took place a few years ago when Dyson made the decision to relocate the manufacture of their products to Malaysia, but the same principles that apply to the iPod also apply to the Dyson products. It is highly likely that Britain gets a far greater share of the proceeds from every vacuum the company sells than either Malaysia or any of the other component manufacturers or assemblers. It's one of the reasons why I don't pay attention to the doomsdayers about international trade. They look at the declining dollar, then they examine the trade balance (and not the balance of payments), and conclude that the reason why the United States dollar is declining is because our economy is going into the shitter. But if that was true, the companies who do the greatest amount of manufacturing exporting (such as Apple) should appear to be the poorest. That Apple is not a poor company should be a red flag that the doomsdayers are wrong. Yes, we've exported manufacturing--but the reason why is because manufacturing is not where the money is at. When a job is exported, it's exported because a corporation believes the job is not a core competency to that company--which (in corporate speak) means it's not a job which butters the bread--and the company believes seeking the lowest price is preferable to keeping the job in-house. ... [T]rade statistics can mislead as much as inform. For every $299 iPod sold in the U.S., the politically volatile U.S. trade deficit with China increased by about $150 (the factory cost) plus the cost of shipping. Yet the value added to the product through assembly in China is at most a few dollars. Even if we included the direct labor involved in making various parts and components in China, it would still add only marginally to China’s share of the value.
By this same logic, if the iPod were assembled in the U.S., most of the corresponding $150 bilateral (US-China) trade deficit would disappear, but the overall U.S. trade deficit associated with each unit would only fall by a few dollars. ...
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rm | |
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I'm having one of those periodic things I have where I want to knit. I'm a pretty lousy knitter. I can do a scarf, but that's about it. But in posting all those LJ small businesses yesterday, a bit of yarn jumped out at me.
Anyway, this led to the following horrific observation on Twitter: @racheline_m: Why hasn't someone made a 456 knitting pattern yet? Everyone wants a knit, vomiting, 3-headed turkey, don't they?
Which then led to the horrifying personal observation -- you guys know I live on the 4/5/6 train, yeah?
Okay, the White House gate crashers? met the President. I really, really, will be deeply, deeply annoyed if these people aren't in a world of trouble. Free passes on this sort of thing will just encourage more of it, and in our reality TV world, people will always rise to the challenge of self-promotional asshattery.
The houses of NYC.
Last night we went to see A Streetcar Named Desire. It was an exceptional and very funny production and the director tried to bring as much ambiguity to it as possible (maybe everyone is crazy, maybe everyone in a liar), but at the end of the day, it's still a weird play trapped in the moment of its creation and that moment's conception of sexuality and insanity. Still, it was a fine, fine thing, and it's interesting to me, the degree to which I can now recognize which performers came out of NIDA and which didn't, by very specific performance ticks. And, of course, being a mostly NIDA alum production, spectacular and intelligent sets.
I've just been linked to this: GDL (blond! and with Stephen Fry, and I think a chick that was in Spooks). It was good for a giggle early this morning, although it suffers more than a bit if you're lacking various England/Wales contexts.
I hope everyone is having fun at Chicago Tardis. Can I be right in that I'm not hearing eight billion pounds of squeeing out of it due to the lack of Torchwood boys as guests? People, squee anyway, some of us do still care.
bodlon points out the Frenzy of Fail that is this article about a transwoman over at the Boston Herald.
Oh my god our cruise is in five or so weeks and I still need to: find the right shoes for my tux (which will be here in a couple of weeks), buy a suit bag, double-check on my gluten-free food stuff for the trip, make sure Patty and I have all the wardrobe stuff we need (like post-swimming coverups), order various cruise extras (from our excursions to random luxury things for the room for our departure), and on and on and on. I can't believe we were originally booked on something department December 10th. Man, I am so glad this isn't happening until January.
OMG, tux! Also am excited to see the swatches that Seyta is sending me for the new shirts I'm ordering. I love my shirts from Duchess a ridiculous, ridiculous amount. I may have to go with a dark blue one too, since I lost my dark blue one from Uniqlo, and I do absolutely need one in that color for cosplay at Gallifrey One anyway.
Okay, I really need to stop being depressed about NaNo, and just go back to writing my book without the collective frenzy and get that damn werewolf story done. Just do it. Blah.
Plants vs. Zombies music video. I blame Patty.
Wanting to Want. A six page article in The New York Times about female sexual desire? This can't end well. Actually, I'm still only on the first page. With the raisins. WHUT? you ask. Yeah, just... have fun.Current Music: The Clockwork Dolls - Blades in Autumn
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s00j | |
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Just beneath my belly is a 10-month-old scar which even I can barely see at this point. It's a slim horizontal line that runs perpendicular to my hip bones. Even I am starting to think of it as beautiful. I have a functional belly, which takes in all the yummy leftovers it can hold (turkey and potatoes and gravy, oh yes), and which allows me to hula hoop to my heart's content--and I do. Many of you had a hand in my rescue, there. I remain thankful. Show tonight, one of our last two in Florida. Please join us if you can. You can still get the discounted tickets. Saturday November 28, 2009 — 7:00pm The Traveling Fates Center for Healing Arts 916 Columbus Ave Melbourne, FL 32901 [ Map It!] (321) 733-7633 Purchase tickets online, $10 in advance, $15 at the show.  with Sooj, Ginger, and Bekah's music woven together!Tags: gratitude, hoop, medical, music is life, my mason-dixon line, show today, traveling fates
Current Location: chez Cook
Current Mood:  lonesome, but good
Current Music: (internal) me - Neptune
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theferrett | |
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A woman on OKCupid said that she bet that I was "fun in bed." And I had a weird dissonance upon reading that.
See, to me, "fun" is slip-n-slides, balloon-twisting performers at parties, playing Rock Band, telling stories. Whereas "sex" - although something I enjoy deeply (or at least as deeply as I am physiologically capable) - consists of hot kisses, fevered gasps, driving each other crazy until we rip off our clothes and have to have each other.
Needless to say, combining clowns and that sort of hotness causes me to pause.
That's not to say that I treat sex as though it's some sort of treasured classical painting - I have giggle breakdowns in bed just like everybody, and the crossover between my clown-fun and sex lies is connected by the luscious goodness of The Tickle Fight, that classic mechanism of getting some "innocent" body-touching that can lead to something a lot sexier. (I repeat: There has never been a thing as an innocent tickle fight between consenting adults in the history of mankind.) But to me, part of the fun of sex is that intensity of wanting, that need, and I have trouble parsing that fun in the way that I'd process Cinco de Mayo parties and squirt-gun fights.
Emotionally, I parse it differently as well, because while sex can be no-strings-attached whoopie, in my experience if you're not careful about setting boundaries, that intensity will often lead to one party or the other getting emotionally involved. You're swapping bodily fluids, there's a heightened sense of vulnerability - it can get messy if you don't watch out.
Which is not to say that anyone's wrong about how they feel. I suspect that for many, sex is the sort of walk in the park thing where there's no distinction between "I had a sundae for lunch and then a hot bi male for dinner!" But for me, there's a distinct and clear barrier between "fun" and "sex" - sex contains fun, but it's got something extra that brings it beyond that point for me. There's an intensity to sex, another layer that amplifies it so much that it nearly always catapults the act almost beyond something I take lightly - even my most casual hookups always had an aspect of, "Whoo, that was a unique experience that let me see a totally different side of that person," even if my partners didn't always feel that way in return.
What about you? Is sex fun? Casual? Whoopie? How do you parse it?
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theferrett | |
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Yesterday, I read the opening chapter of Stephen King's "Under the Dome." Couldn't have been more than 800 words. And yet it had more characterization than any of my stories had put together.
I read it over and over again, just plain amazed by what was there: two characters, and not only did we get the feel and geography of the town they lived in, but we got their dreams, their social status, a good glimpse of their personality, their financial state, and how they interacted with each other. And it was all natural, told with ease, like a beautifully ticking watch where you don't quite realize how much work goes into keeping that ticking plot-hand moving forward until you shuck off that gold casing.
I think I've found my Holy Grail: that beginning section. There's so much in there, so neatly packed into such a small space (and, as you'd know if you read it, in such an easy to read way, that if I ever approach a third of that I'll feel like I've pretty much maxed out my ability.
I have no comment upon the rest of the novel; it's a silly idea stolen straight from the Simpsons, but then again Stephen King specializes in silly ideas made genuinely scary. This one might be a return to form, or might be a lousy crash. But that opener, should you look carefully, is a masterwork of characterization. I'm going to have to take it apart and see if I can find the central motor that drives it.
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yendi | |
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(Yesterday's post contains links to sales on GI Joe, Paul Blart, Casino Royale, Tropic Thunder, Entourage, Weeds, Friends, Flight of the Conchords, and World of Warcraft. Thursday's post contains links for Star Trek, Fringe, Soul Calibur, magazines, and more. Previous posts cover The Simpsons, Criterion Movies, and board games; $3 in MP3 Credit; and The Office and assorted box office hits. There's also free one-month Amazon Prime trial, meaning free shipping on those cheap bargains.) Yes, Amazon's eternal Black Friday deals continue. Lightning deals today include digital cameras, jewelry, a scooter, a Flip Mino, assorted CDs, and more (but no DVDs or videogames today). Other highlights: In the MP3 store, Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra is $2.99, as is Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones. There's also a free download from Echo and the Bunnymen. There are a bunch of kid Disney T-shirts for $5 and under; the page starts with High School Musical/Camp Rock stuff, but eventually gets to the animated characters (including some Pixar ones). The second-gen 16GB iPod Touch (one generation out of date, but still nifty) is on sale for $229.99 ($50 off), for anyone looking for a cheaper iPod). The Archos 5 250GB Internet Tablet is on sale for $199.99 (56% off). If you get an Xbox 360 Elite (already packaged with Lego Batman and Pure), they'll throw in Left 4 Dead 2. Finally, Dragon Age: Origins is on sale for $39.99 for the Xbox or PS3, a solid $20 off (with free shipping even if you don't use the Prime offer).
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