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That's gotta hurt...
Sep. 29th, 2000 10:49 pmI read somewhere recently that a Saudi billionaire - perhaps Prince al-Waleed bin Talal - owned a $660-plus million dollar stake in Apple. Whichever Saudi billionaire it is, he lost over $330 million today as Apple's stock dropped 27-3/4 points to close at 25-3/4.
That's gotta hurt.
I still have a "fat" Mac (one of the original Macintosh computers upgraded with 512 KB of RAM, if memory serves). It's was a sweet machine way back when, but sweet isn't near enough to assure survival in the marketplace. Another technically superior product - the Amiga - stands as mute evidence to the proposition that excellence does not guarantee success. Too bad.
Of course, such an assertion is likely to raise eyebrows. Shouldn't "excellence" be rewarded? Isn't "excellence" the thing we are taught to pursue in school and on the job? What gives?
The key thing to remember is that "excellence" only means something in some context. You may have an "excellent" command of French, but it won't help you fly a plane. Vegetables may be excellent food, but not for carnivores. Similarly, the architecture of the Amiga was ahead of its time back when Commodore was selling it, but with the exception of some really gung-ho folks who were Amiga maniacs - some modern-day Linux fans remind me of them - the Amiga was just another box to most prospective customers.
At any rate, the Apple news constituted the exciting part of the day. I don't really remember doing much else during the day, at least little of dramatic import. It was another one of those Fridays that was half over before you could blink, and which wound to a close just as 5 o'clock rolled around.
Segue.
I am discouraged by a post I found on a mailing list to which I subscribe, part of which (anonymized) reads:
What discourages me is the feverish intensity of the writer's belief that, since any money earned will be deducted from her government stipend, her only alternative is to not work and live on the $413 per week (which, it turns out, is subject to tax like ordinary income). It's not as if the woman can't work or doesn't want to work (she says she'd been counting on her freelance income), what bugs her is "having to" settle for the piddling amount her "insurance" policy was going to pay.
That she may feel badly about the time spent earning the first $413 in any given week is not lost on me. After all, she could sit on her butt and get that money without lifting a finger. If she freelances $500 in 40 hours of work, it's as if she "earned" only $87 (she would've gotten $413 for doing nothing). That's almost $2.25 per hour, which is a sad hourly rate, indeed. Such "insurance" programs - which require a healthy self-administered dose of poison applied to one's self-respect - kill the human spirit, and resemble actual insurance policies the way military music resembles music.
My advice to the woman? Collect the insurance for as long as necessary to rest and recuperate after delivery, but then stop paying attention to it as you pursue - and land - clients. Focusing on the "lost" money just poisons the mind.
Cheers...
That's gotta hurt.
I still have a "fat" Mac (one of the original Macintosh computers upgraded with 512 KB of RAM, if memory serves). It's was a sweet machine way back when, but sweet isn't near enough to assure survival in the marketplace. Another technically superior product - the Amiga - stands as mute evidence to the proposition that excellence does not guarantee success. Too bad.
Of course, such an assertion is likely to raise eyebrows. Shouldn't "excellence" be rewarded? Isn't "excellence" the thing we are taught to pursue in school and on the job? What gives?
The key thing to remember is that "excellence" only means something in some context. You may have an "excellent" command of French, but it won't help you fly a plane. Vegetables may be excellent food, but not for carnivores. Similarly, the architecture of the Amiga was ahead of its time back when Commodore was selling it, but with the exception of some really gung-ho folks who were Amiga maniacs - some modern-day Linux fans remind me of them - the Amiga was just another box to most prospective customers.
At any rate, the Apple news constituted the exciting part of the day. I don't really remember doing much else during the day, at least little of dramatic import. It was another one of those Fridays that was half over before you could blink, and which wound to a close just as 5 o'clock rolled around.
Segue.
I am discouraged by a post I found on a mailing list to which I subscribe, part of which (anonymized) reads:
| In January 2001 I will be on maternity leave (now 1 year in Quebec) from my full-time job. The maternity insurance paid by the gov't is equal to 55% of the mother's gross salary for a maximum of $413/week!! [...] I was counting on my freelance translation/teaching income, but just found out that anything I earn from freelance work will be deducted from my maternity insurance... [...] Basically, I can't bill anyone for one year! [...] Is there any way to go around this or do we really have to live on $413/week until [my husband, who is going to school] starts working? |
What discourages me is the feverish intensity of the writer's belief that, since any money earned will be deducted from her government stipend, her only alternative is to not work and live on the $413 per week (which, it turns out, is subject to tax like ordinary income). It's not as if the woman can't work or doesn't want to work (she says she'd been counting on her freelance income), what bugs her is "having to" settle for the piddling amount her "insurance" policy was going to pay.
That she may feel badly about the time spent earning the first $413 in any given week is not lost on me. After all, she could sit on her butt and get that money without lifting a finger. If she freelances $500 in 40 hours of work, it's as if she "earned" only $87 (she would've gotten $413 for doing nothing). That's almost $2.25 per hour, which is a sad hourly rate, indeed. Such "insurance" programs - which require a healthy self-administered dose of poison applied to one's self-respect - kill the human spirit, and resemble actual insurance policies the way military music resembles music.
My advice to the woman? Collect the insurance for as long as necessary to rest and recuperate after delivery, but then stop paying attention to it as you pursue - and land - clients. Focusing on the "lost" money just poisons the mind.
Cheers...
