Canon was doing better than Nikon in the world of digital cameras / lenses.

As a result, it would be foolish of Nikon to give people even more reason to jump ship and switch to another brand.
( Especially if Canon wasn't raising prices for the same reasons )

Yes, they do.

And the recent CoinBase hack is the latest example of why this is a terrible idea until we get some laws with teeth in
place for failing to secure said data in the first place.

Now, many who submitted said information ( because the US Government mandated it ) to be able to purchase,
trade and sell crypto had their personal information stolen. Names, addresses, photos of ID's, etc.

It's an Identity Thief''s wet dream.

People are ( rightfully ) reluctant to trust their personal information to the online industry who has an abysmal track
record of keeping said information secure in the first place. Especially since there are usually zero consequences
for the Company in question in the wake of said breaches.

It's what makes the entire idea of submitting your ID for online access total lunacy.

Hell, I don't trust any of the " smart " appliances to be network connected nor do I allow any devices off the local network unless
I give it explicit permission to do so.

I don't use Siri, Cortana or Alexa. I don't trust my phone enough to log in to anything that requires login credentials.
( Will never allow it access to my bank and / or my accounts )

I don't have Smart Lights, Thermostats, door locks, etc. etc.

My home is about a dumb as I can make it because I have trust issues with the companies who create / sell all of these devices
in the first place.

They are not trying to make your life easier, they are trying to learn all they can about you and there is no line they will not cross
in order to make that happen.

That said, I believe I will do my own shopping thanks :D

Both Republicans and Democrats do the same shit every year.

Both sides will try to cram some pet-project or no-chance-in-hell-it-passes-as-a-standalone-bill into something like the Defense Spending Bill
or some other " must pass " legislation.

Lots of finger pointing ensues from whichever party isn't in charge at the time.

Wash - Rinse - Repeat every single year.

It's neither new nor news.

In the long run, it's a good thing as it will force even more competition in the GPU market that Nvidia currently dominates.

Once upon a time, there was another company who basically had a stranglehold on a particular market and they
also priced their gear at the top of the range simply because they could. They had zero competition.

Then some competition finally showed up, did everything the super gear did and was priced far cheaper.

Said company went bankrupt not long after.

That particular market was Computer Generated Imagery.
That particular company was Silicon Graphics.
The competition was the consumer PC.

The moral of this story is let Nvidia price themselves as high as they wish.

It will be painful for us in the short-term but competition WILL become a serious reality eventually and we'll
all be better off for it in the end.

It's almost as if the laws are applied differently if you are rich, famous, a celebrity or athlete. :|

Wasn't originally built with the intention of it becoming a " business model " in the first place.

The fact that it ultimately became one is what screwed it all up.

" with Democrats saying the Republican-led vote will make it harder for kids without reliable Internet access to complete their homework. "

Anytime someone throws out the " Think of the Children " bullshit, then you know they're being desperate.

I'm old so, why is Internet Access a requirement for doing homework when not everyone has access in the first place ?
( Rural areas especially )

Do we not hand out textbooks any longer ? Once upon a time homework was:

" Read Chapter Four and answer all the questions at the end of it. Due by Friday. "

Why do you need internet access for that ? Is everything just a .pdf form now that gets
uploaded to a school server on completion ? Have the textbooks themselves become
digital versions only accessible via an internet connection ?

I mean, pretty much anyone who graduated before the mid nineties managed to do loads
and LOADS of homework without a functioning internet at all . . . . .

Just sayin . . . . .

Mentally, anyway.

I've pretty much axed them all at this point with the exception of Slashdot and, if I'm being honest,
I don't think it's far off from being deleted for me as well. Damn near every post these days turns into
a political shit show and / or where folks try to one up each other and constantly find new and creative
ways to call each other stupid.

I don't even bother watching what passes as the news anymore due to their transformation into fear-
mongering, sensationalism and propaganda.

I think the key to happiness these days is to simply tune out as much as you can.

Since most of it is total bullshit, you probably won't be missing much if you do :P

Many of you really need to get past the whole " Orange Man Bad " thing as it tends to cloud your reasoning skills.
( Of course, there are those in this Country who want exactly that. Keeping you fearful and angry makes you easier to manipulate. )

Try, for just a moment, to ignore politics if you can.

There is no instance where relying upon a single supplier is a good idea in any industry. Not one.
Doing so may be cheaper in the short term, but you will pay for it dearly in the long run.

Some simple examples:

Networking stuff

My own company utilized a well known vendors hardware for the vast majority of its routing / switching setups. Deep discounts
early on to outfit the networks with their gear. ( massive network sizes btw. My network alone was 30k+ routers / switches )

Once they have you reliant upon their gear, that's when you're no longer in control of your network because it becomes
prohibitively expensive to swap it all out and the vendor knows it. They will raise the prices at will including those of parts and
support and you will pay it because, in the short term, it's cheaper than swapping to another vendor.

***

Federal Funding for States and Institutions

US States and institutions who rely too heavily on Federal Funding to make ends meet give the Federal Government too much control over
them because, if they don't toe the line, they'll simply use the threat of stopping all Funding as a means of control.

***

Investments

You don't keep your entire portfolio in a single stock do you ? Why not ?
It's called risk management. If something happens to your one stock and it craters, you lose everything.

Hence, the reason we diversify to manage said risk.

Or as the old saying goes: " Don't put all your eggs in one basket. "

***

Examples like this can go on and on but you get the idea.

The World really needs to diversify where their goods and raw materials come from. Because if we don't then China
has the ability to pressure everyone into doing what it wants because it is currently the ONLY source for many of the things
the World relies on everyday.

China would like to keep the World very much dependent on them because it gives them an awful lot of hidden / indirect control
over every other Nation on this planet.

If you're good with the fact that China is in control of your economy then, by all means, continue to carry on business as usual.
Otherwise, you should begin to take the necessary steps to lessen the reliance on China as the sole supplier for so many things.

Your future economy will thank you.

Any new data centers and / or mining operations should be required to significantly shoulder the cost of building out
new power generation systems to help offset the asymmetrical amount of power they consume in comparison to the
average home.

The people absolutely should not be footing the bill for those who consume so much power.
If they need extra power for their business, THEY should be the ones to fund it. Not us.

( Which is exactly what we do now with the BitCoin Bros keeping electricity demand artifically high in my State )

The Media treats the stock market graph the same way they treat the global temperature graph.
They'll cherry pick a very narrow range of data and say " Look ! Look ! We're Doomed ! The graph data proves it ! "

Whereas, if you open the range up a bit, you might note things aren't quite as bad as the VERY manipulative Media tries to make it out to be.
( Well, unless you're a day trader vs a long term one. Then you might actually be somewhat f*cked )

For example, if we only look at the data from today, the DJI fell -3.98% ( omgtheskyisfalling )
Whereas, if we look at the data from the past FIVE YEARS, the DJI is actually up +92.59% ( my investments are elated overall )
Go back ten years and it looks even better. ( ~134% increase )

Same for climate data.

The fear-mongers love to use the graph data that shows we're the " hottest we've been in 10k years ! " ( omg everyone panic )
Again, open the range and go back a bit further and the data shows we're actually a lot cooler now than we have been in the past.

So, when the folks who are doing their damndest to manipulate you into thinking one way or another, make sure to ask for a wider
data set which will show you a much better picture vs what they've decided to show you to push their narrative.

Don't let these people get under your skin.

To add to the issue of movies that really just aren't worth our time to watch, the biggest issue I have
with Movie Theaters would be the theater itself and the people who are still there.

People are disruptive as hell.

Talking / texting / playing with their phones during the entire show.
The family who is letting their four year old run up and down the isles, screaming the entire time.
Poor maintenance. Theater smells like mold, floors are rarely clean, speaker systems aren't maintained
and barely work, half an hour of commercials and previews before the show even begins. Etc. etc.

The fact that theater management will do exactly zero to resolve any of the above issues especially
those dealing with disruptive patrons since they don't want to get into a confrontation.

I'll simply watch the streaming version or, if I want better sound, I'll just buy the Blu-Ray and be done with it.

Netflix CEO is right, theaters are going to go away unless they do something drastic to improve the experience.

Before committing any funding to that stock, it would be wise to at least visit the site and get a feel
for what it really is first. Doing so would probably turn away at least 50% of potential investors.

I wouldn't invest YOUR money in Reddit even if you gave it to me for free.

The bigger problem I see on the roads these days is the fact that post-Covid, a lot more
folks simply don't give a damn about the rules of the road.

I see folks blowing red lights not only every single day, but at damn near every single red
light I'm stopped at.

It's become so bad I went ahead and installed front / rear dash cams just to have some record
of what happened after two close calls where an idiot blew through a light five plus seconds after
it's already turned red. :|