Microsoft really took a step back from competing with Ballmer at the helm. Part of it relates to the problem where the company couldn’t really leverage its monopolistic powers across different market segments to gain an advantage.

There is an alternate reality where, unburdened by worries of vertical integration, Microsoft leverages its tech with TiVo, XBox, and Zune to build out an XBox capable of playing some in-demand video. I expect this includes Viacom’s library, which was experimenting with offering its first run shows online.

I can see that Microsoft persuading Viacom to give the XBox exclusive console access, either by getting bought out or an independent guarantee. This, combined with its Netflix streaming, pushes the XBox beyond being a console to something more.

There was an age where Microsoft was trying to do that as well; it failed miserably.

I partially blame the anti-trust settlement preventing Microsoft from being more aggressive.

I know someone renting a second house to their kid. I don’t know the full arraignments of what is going on with that, though.

The XBox has always been a play by Microsoft to keep one toe into the console space to keep the pipeline between console and PC games open.

The problem for Microsoft right now is that it isn’t making money on being in either space.

I’ve known a few people who own a second home as an investment in a high cost of living area. For them, it is just another way to invest that doesn’t involve the stock market.

The returns can be a little lower, but you don’t have to pay capital gains when you sell your primary residence. So, the no-tax financial move is to move into the rental when you want to downsize or leave and sell the primary residence. Then, you either live in your downsized and paid off rental as your residence or you wait two years and sell that residence as your new primary residence to get out of paying capital gains on your rental.

There is currently only one recognized African country, Ethiopia, that recognizes Somaliland. Why only one African country? Because the others are afraid that a reevaluation of borders at best gets you something like the Partition of India at best and at worst gets you war between two countries.

This isn’t white man’s burden shit.

While there has been a taboo against the changing of borders in Africa due to legitimate reasons, it became accepted that South Sudan should be created due to the destabilizing force that the Sudanese government played in the local populace. While the southern part of Somalia isn’t a direct threat to Somaliland, it is obvious that there isn’t a central Somali government able to enact control over Somaliland and the Somaliland government doesn’t wish territorial expansion to become the legitimate government of all Somalia.

In these terms, I feel like the recognition of Somaliland isn’t destabilizing to the region and seems to be a better option than continued anarchy over a wider area.

I also feel like Djibouti is trying to fight against this recognition as this gives Ethiopia another path to sea access.

I change my towels once a week. I have a special hand towel to dry my nether regions.

Outside of the USA? You can still start around the 70’s as a time when medical costs started increasing as the greatest generation started to retire, taking away talent from the workforce and starting to use all those retirement benefits they were entitled to. You also had an increase in quality of medicine, which usually came at a cost.

Funding these higher costs would require new taxes, which was becoming politically unpopular across First World democracies.

None at all.

Which is why a lot of people who buy ads build in their own tracking methods to test the efficacy of their campaigns.

I knew one person who had a small skin care line who knew the cost to obtain customers from the various forms of ads including individual influencers based on links and referral codes.

It was just a gas leak.

The show also hits viewers over the head that there are morals that the crew won’t cross, like stealing medicine from that town. It is also in the opening song that, because of the war and his service, Mal can’t exactly settle down and be a good law abiding citizen, so he takes jobs of dubious legality since they pay better.

Mal is the same kind of bad that Han Solo was painted as in Star Wars. He’s not a nice guy, but more neutral than evil and will perform good acts at times.

The show also played up the Alliance as being more absolutely evil because it had to in order to justify Mal.

They fry the burgers with mustard; add grilled onions, pickles and extra burger sauce.

Stargate needed to develop a way to allow Earth to know about the galaxy. It might have even been an interesting way to spin off the show.

There is no way that the US government could hide the SG teams’ budget over years and that the US military wouldn’t have deployed off world technology during GWAT. Fuck, imagine the US Military deploying Zat guns to Iraq.

As much as I enjoyed Firefly, the universe created was going to get very complicated and bad if it had been let to develop for the next few years.

They are going to have to explain a lot to justify that Confederate veterans deserved to be the heroes and I don’t think that Joss Whedon was up to that task.

I’ll eat at smaller restaurants if I get a chance. I’ve eaten at George Motz’s restaurant in NYC and liked it.

I’ll get an In-N-Out Animal Style Burger. I like it.

In-N-Out

I make it a point to eat there when I can when I won’t anywhere else.

Save it, preferably in something interest bearing. Pretend you never got that money.

Having $75 when you really need it is worth a lot more than spending $75 just because you have it.

At least one person is going to have their Reddit archives preserved.