This

There have been some stunning images via Twitter of the Presidential Palace captured by victorious Ukrainian protesters.

This image …

… exemplifies everything that is wrong with those who currently — and temporarily — hold power.

More photos here.

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Fifteen Dollars Is Still Too Much

Microsoft Said to Cut Windows Price 70% to Counter Rivals

Manufacturers will be charged $15 to license Windows 8.1 and preinstall it on devices that retail for less than $250, instead of the usual fee of $50, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The discount will apply to any products that meet the price limit, with no restrictions on the size or type of device, the people said.

When Shenzen manufacturers can kick out low-end Android tablets for just US$50 final retail price, US$15 for an OS license is still too damn much.

I don’t think Microsoft understands just how much tablets have changed the market. Or how inexpensively Shenzen can churn out tablets.

Intel seems to understand — having partnered with several Chinese tablet makers (and no doubt giving them lots of technical assistance as well as cash). Intel, if it can get its chips cheap enough, might be able to actually compete against Rockchip, MediaTek, Allwinner, and others.

But Microsoft has to compete against Android. And I don’t think Google-certified Android (the one with all the Google apps that make it worth having) is priced at $15 per tablet.

“But it’s Windows!” Microsoft will crow.

Yeah, that’s also the main problem with it too.

The Circle Jerk Of Typing Monkeys

Writer’s Cafe Kboards, Unethical Marketing Practices and Authors Behaving Badly, Part 1

If you are a bad writer — and most of these people are — then, the only way you can get anyone to read your work is through aggressive self-promotion.

Writer’s Cafe Kboards, Unethical Marketing Practices and Authors Behaving Badly, Part 2

And there are other names that come up, again and again, with similar tales of making it to the top simply by “word of mouth,” or entirely on their work’s own merit, for example, but when you do a little tiny bit of investigation you find this is the furthest thing from the truth.