Occupy Brazil?

I have been ruminating over the protests in Brazil over the last week or so, not sure what exactly to write. I watched Bebeto play at the older-than-me Maracanã stadium in 2000, and saw the massive renovation of Mineirão stadium in 2012. I been to Rio, São Paulo, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and Brasília across the years, and have experienced Brazil and Brazilians change over that time. I've seen the rich, the middle, and the poor, up close. Like in a lot of places, things over time have become better for some, not so much for a bunch of others. Still, I'm surprised it took this long for such a public outcry. I guess like my dad always said growing up; when you've had enough you say when.

 

Lyrics in English courtesy of Crimson.

"iOS 7 Is Like Getting A New Phone You Already Know How To Use"

iOS for the car - WWDC 2013

That's a quote from the iOS portion of Apple's 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference, I listening to this afternoon. This sums up why I believe Apple gets its customers in particular, and device users in general, in ways the pundits don't.

For the last couple of months, I've read articles about the demise of Apple (yes again)...if it doesn't release something phantasmagorical, tomorrow; like the iFaucet. Yes, a bit of hyperbole on my part. One of the things I've learned from Apple, but before that in the schoolyard, is that there will be folks in life that want to goad you into a fight, or push you do something before you are ready, able, or willing to. If peer-pressure doesn't work, the next steps involve taunts, jeers, and political spin. When this occurs, it's even more important to do you, as Russell Simmons would say. I'm glad Apple, is being Apple.

I'm neither an Apple, nor a Google, nor a Microsoft, nor a Blackberry fanboy. I own at least one of each type of device, but for different purposes. To me, that's one of the great rewards of competition in the marketplace. I get my ease and efficiency of use from Apple, navigation and ubiquitous cloud integration from Google, works-with-most-of-the-stuff-I-already-know from Microsoft, and no-frills effectiveness and durability from RIM (now Blackberry).

I still like my iPod Touch 4. It's considered antiquated to a lot of people, although it's only 21 months old. I still use it everyday; from listening to LL Cool J's, Rock The Bells, to app quality assurance testing. When I bought it, it ran iOS 4.x. I eventually updated it to iOS 5.1, and was an early (for me) adopter of iOS 6.0.1. I also picked up some nice features along the way, like iMessage with iOS 5.x and better integrated social media sharing with iOS 6.x. I was worried I may have to retire my iPod Touch to an expensive chess tutor for my daughter.  Now I'm curious to see how long I can keep bringing my iPod back into the future.

Resolving The Family Problem

My dad doesn't volunteer wisdom to me often, but every time he has, it's been on point. Not sure on the attribution on the following but here goes:

A father left 17 camels as an asset for his three sons. When the father passed away, his sons opened up the will. The will stated that the eldest son should get half of 17 camels while the middle son should be given 1/3rd (one-third). The youngest son should be given 1/9th (one-ninth) of the 17 camels.

As it is not possible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, The three sons started to fight with each other. So, the three sons decided to go to a wise man.

The wise man listened patiently about the will. The wise man, after giving this thought, brought one camel of his own and added the same to 17. That increased the total to 18 camels.

Now, he started reading the deceased father's will.

Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 camels.
1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 camels.
1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 camels.

Adding this up: 9 plus 6 plus 2 is 17 and this left one camel, which the wise 
man took back.

Moral: The attitude of negotiation and problem solving is to find the 18th camel.