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5 Apr 2024 | 30
Loser Trump's last financial disclosure docs reveal Tim Cook gave him $5,999 Mac Pro, the 'first' made in Texas
President Trump's last financial disclosure form makes for interesting reading. In addition to listing his various property holdings and business interests, it also reveals a number of gifts received by business leaders, including a Mac Pro from Apple CEO Tim Cook. In true Trump-era fashion, the disclosure [PDF], released via …
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Thursday 21st January 2021 17:36 GMT Fruit and Nutcase
Re: A very British solution
Winter blues? How about a couple of weeks "benefit in kind" in Mustique?
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Thursday 21st January 2021 13:13 GMT Joe W
A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
Well, when I was employed by a university a job or two back I had to sign a statement that limited gifts to five EUR (same limit for the Professors, as one of them remarked when a student invited the whole group for a beer or five after handing in his thesis; "nah, I cannot have a second one, otherwise I have to call the university's president" - "but between five and six they are half price" - "ok then").
GBP 140 would buy a few pints...
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Thursday 21st January 2021 14:32 GMT Eclectic Man
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
When I was a consultant to government agencies and departments, I was told I could buy the civil servants a coffee, or cheap snack of up to £10 value, otherwise they would have to declare it as a 'gift'.
One client I bought lunch for would only accept a cheese sandwich as his wife would be annoyed if he didn't eat his dinner that evening. My and his lunches that day actually cost me less than I normally spent on my own lunch when was working at the office, so I did not even bother to claim it on expenses.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 15:16 GMT big_D
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
I was contracted out to GPT in Coventry in the late 80s. The managers there invited me to lunch every day and were annoyed, when I declined one day, because I had to go to the bank at lunch time.
When they had guests, they could get a free meal, with silver service, at the on-site golf club! Luckily, my company had no rules about being fed by the client - in fact, they preferred it, because I didn't then submit an expense claim...
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Friday 22nd January 2021 08:45 GMT MrNigel
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
Exactly the same when I worked for AT&T Philips Telecommunications UK Limited (or APT...) in the mid-80s. I used to fly out to AT&T Naperville/Atlanta locations to sign PO's in ink (they wouldn't accept faxes) and because I was an 'international guest' they could claim expenses dining with me. The all-time record was 19 people of whom only three were working on the BT DDSN project. Apparently it was a famous fried chicken shack in the pine forests north of Atlanta that was too expensive if paying yourself
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Thursday 21st January 2021 21:48 GMT Dave559
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
I knew someone who told me a story about when they were working for a local authority, and were at an all-day meeting or something somewhere, way out in the sticks a long way away from the office, and so were able to claim lunch on expenses. There wasn't a vast amount of dining options where they were, they weren't particularly hungry that day, and they didn't want to charge work more than necessary, so they bought a sandwich, a fizzy drink, and a packet of fruit pastilles.
When they returned, they were understandably quite narked to have the claim for the fruit pastilles refused, as "not an essential part of a meal". Afterwards, they said that if they'd known accounts were going to be like that, they'd have ordered the heartiest thing on the greasy spoon cafe menu (practically the only other choice nearby), which would have been a few quid more expensive (certainly more than the 50p or so they refused), just to spite them.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 09:16 GMT 2Fat2Bald
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
That kind of thing really annoys me. 50p, eh? - well done, beancounter. Do you have any idea how valuable goodwill can be, and how much you just p1ss3d up the wall? madness.
Of course. The next time you want that person to "hang around" after 5pm to finish something off, do you think they will? If you want the kind of environment where someone leaves your off-siter at 4pm so they're not late home rather than staying until 6pm to complete the work today, this is how you achieve that.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 15:41 GMT JimboSmith
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
One employer I worked for (pre bribery law) had a rule that if somebody gave you something (under ~£200) you couldn't sell it. You could give it away but not sell it. I received a few low rent gifts that weren't anywhere near £200 but then one that was around that mark. I asked my boss what I should do about it. He said that the value of the thing was technically just over £200. As it was engraved with my name on it that had reduced the value considerably and so that was fine.
I was unofficialy looking at vendors who had products that would replace the DOS software we currently relied on. I had two software products on the cards one was a Windows version of the DOS product we used already and the second was from a new vendor. The windows version of the legacy software was actually just the same as the original. It still had all the faults and things that people hated with no attempt apparently being made to improve it. The second company was streets ahead and their software was far better than anything we'd used before. They also had a willingness to make modifications/include features and functionality if we asked them nicely which was a revelation.
I explained at one stage to both firmd that I had made up my mind. I therefore wasn't going to be swayed by anything other than the software performance. Both companies had sent people to London to see me and to answer any questions I might have. Despite my original warning before they left for blighty both took me out for lunch. I'd already made up my mind which product I preferred and I would be sticking to that come hell or high water. One took me to a very nice full service restaurant in Soho with a decent meal including desert and drinks (soft in my case as I was working). The other took me to Pret a Manger for lunch buying me a sandwich and a Coca-Cola. Unsurprisingly it was the new guys who were the former and the existing bunch the latter. The legacy lot were given their marching orders but only because their windows version was a straight port from DOS.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 18:53 GMT Scott 26
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
Working for a .govt.nz I was at an HP breakfast, and I won (random prize draw) a fairly decent (back then) HP Projector (est 2-3k Kiwi Pesos).... as I was at the breakfast with my manager and his manager, and as we were walking back to work, I said "Just got to take a quick detour" and popped into my wife's work, and dropped off the projector into her office.... got to my work and boss/boss's boss said "where's the projector - you going to declare that?"..... My response: "What projector?"
I kept it as my main TV was a tiny tube-based thing. Friends would say "want to come over to watch the rugby on my 48-inch TV?" Nah I'll watch it on my 3m screen, thanks.
Then HD became main stream and the projector is now in a box somewhere.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 14:41 GMT Eclectic Man
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
This is an interesting event, and one not, as I recall, covered by any expenses policy or gift policy that I've seen. As long as the lottery was genuine and your chance of winning was small, your 'expectation' should be below the threshold of having to declare something, but, of course the main prize far exceeds the threshold.
There's one for the lawyers to argue over.
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Saturday 23rd January 2021 10:17 GMT Martin
Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
The other problem is that in these sorts of circumstances, the lottery is almost never random or genuine. At every trade show I've ever been to, a few companies would have a "drop your business card in here for a chance to win an iPad" or something similar. However, for some reason, the winner of the iPad was almost always already a customer (or potential customer) of the company offering the lottery, and never some randomer who would never be likely to buy anything from said company.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 19:30 GMT Anonymous Coward
@Joe W Re: A HUNDRED AND FORTY QUID!?
If you work for an international company and you are at a certain grade of employee, you are required by law to take an anti-corruption / bribery course.
There are certain amounts which are allowable, however you need to make an annual disclosure of what you spent.
For Tim Cook to give Trump a Mac, is one thing. To give him the 'first Mac' built in Texas, is another and of course he had to declare it and probably ran it past legal and the bean counters...
Some companies like Walmart limit what sort of gifts their employees can take. Meaning if you take an employee out to a decent lunch (Think proper restaurant) they would have to declare the cost of the mean over a certain amount.
W.R.T to giving a gift like the Mac... there are some rules which govern what Trump can do with it after its been accepted.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 08:32 GMT Steve Davies 3
Re: Giving Trumpo a Mac Pro
As Trump would not know what to do with it, I have to wonder if it was little more than a case with some components from the U/S parts bin inside. That would be a perfect gift for a grifter.
At least then Apple would not have to send those parts for recycling...
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Thursday 21st January 2021 14:10 GMT Anonymous Coward
He's not finished yet
@"He's gone now."
Not yet. He's still trying to keep control of the Republican party. Both by threatening to split them by creating a "Patriot Party", and by his Seditious-Senators like Rand Paul claiming impeachment would cause 1/3rd of Republicans to quit.
If he wins them into submission, then you have 4 years of him pretending to lead the Republican party, and an election attempt in 2024.
4 years of Turning Point and its Twitter sock puppet accounts spewing lies.
4 more years of Fox News trying to undermine Corona virus handling.
450k people dead in the US, 1 in 14 Americans have had the disease, so 6.3 million potential deaths, given the new South African strain 501Y.V2 may not respond to the vaccine (VOC-202012/01). You would do well to give Murdoch consequences.
Then Republicans lose in 2024. Trump would never have won 2016 if Republican's hadn't done all that Gerrymandering, voter suppression and trickery. He lost by even more votes in 2020. In 2024 they have to find 6 million more votes to replace all the dead people, he loses by so many, its difficult to imagine Republicans could ever lose so badly... or that they will ever win again!
What I'm saying is, it's better for the Republicans to impeach him, block him from running again, then rebuild their party, free from Trump taint. Don't go down the hole with that flushing turd.
Sure he'll do his little tantrum, so what, he was a loser, you need to cut ties with him.
Sure he'll promise you he'll go and you'll never hear from him again if you don't impeach him. He lies. He's never kept a promise, don't be dumb.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 03:02 GMT John Brown (no body)
Re: He's not finished yet
On the other hand, he's seen all old tricks and shenanigans and he'll be 82 come next election. He doesn't need to prove anything. Based on some of early beliefs and policies and compared to current beliefs and policies, he seems to have changed over the years. He just might actually mean what he says. That could be refreshing for many people. Especially if he has the balls and conviction to agree with some Republican aims and policies and openly folds them into his own policies. After all, both side often agree on things but oppose them just because the "other side" supports them.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 16:56 GMT Hollerithevo
Re: He's not finished yet
Yep, that evil old corrupt 'owned by the banks' style of politician who has an effective vaccine plan rolling out even as I type, compared to the maverick 'I'm a business man and will bring market know-how' who has just left.
There are always games. That's part of politics. But I see the same thing in the C-suite, among vendors, etc. I would rather work for a smart, cadgy player who is doing the right things than someone who is all talk but can't deliver.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 18:02 GMT Pascal Monett
Re: or that they will ever win again!
They shouldn't.
The Republican Party should be dismantled for treason and all of its political members thrown in jail for for life.
Of course, that won't happen.
But don't think that the OHSG won't have problems presenting himself in 2024. Don't forget that there is a tsunami of lawsuits coming his way, and some of them have the potential to bar him from ever holding office again.
I'm stocking up on the popcorn as we speak . . .
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Friday 22nd January 2021 11:24 GMT deadlockvictim
Re: He's not finished yet
I think that the US could do with a few more parties. I hope that he does form a new party. Then Bernie Sanders should form a socialist party, AOC should form a green party and maybe Obama could form a party for black people. This would make US elections much more interesting and representative.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 16:40 GMT Sherrie Ludwig
Re: He's not finished yet
But the "Proud Boys",have turned on him, because he didn't pardon them for trying to bring down democracy. So, let's see how many others turn now that he didn't pardon them, and they will be facing some very stiff charges. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8VYi8Bq-kI
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Thursday 21st January 2021 13:45 GMT 45RPM
Re: $5,999
That wins an award for the most pointless comparison of the day! I have a Raspberry Pi which cost less than a tenner - it’s a computer too, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a valid comparison.
Did you one kilopound machine have comparable CPU performance - single threaded, multithreaded? A comparable monitor - resolution, response, colour accuracy? Comparable memory? Comparable storage? Etc., Etc. And whether it’s industrial grade or not is moot - what does that even mean? Is my Z800 Industrial Grade (it was built for business, after all)? And if it is, then is my old Mac Pro (which is, objectively, the better built machine)?
Still, if you’re happy with your computer then that’s really all that matters. And the $4800 that you saved can buy an awful lot of good stuff. A nice second hand car. A holiday. A pair of Apple Airpod Max Pro (coming soon, with optional extra cost, wheeled bra to transport the heavy ass things around)!
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Thursday 21st January 2021 14:25 GMT 45RPM
Re: $5,999
Thumbs up to you, thumbs down to me. Thank you for the proof read! This is what’s called a failure to attend to the detail - I misread it as iMac Pro. I was too busy lining up a snide comment on Apple’s headphones.
If there was an option for me to downvote my own comment then I’d use it. I could delete it, I suppose, but it feels a little Trumpian to try to hide my sins from the world and deny that I’ve been a doofus.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 08:18 GMT 45RPM
Re: $5,999
As a user of both, I’d dispute that. My Z800 is comparable in cost and purpose to my Mac Pro, and is by far the worse machine. Sure, it has its uses - but it’s the old Mac Pro that I use every day.
And yes, I missed the part about ‘build yourself’. In my experience, build it yourself is great for personal satisfaction and knowing that you’ve got one of a kind. It’s also great if you have a particular use case that none of the usual suspects caters for. Providing the best bang for your buck though? Nope. Not in my experience.
Ultimately though, there’s a place for both. And some of the kit that Apple builds is stupidly overpriced. Other kit is astonishingly good value - although that’s caveated in that Apple doesn’t make low end kit. If you think that all Apple products are bad value, well, then you’re just being silly.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 17:13 GMT Dave 126
Re: $5,999
It's not a personal computer, nor is it sold as such. It makes the jobs of some specialised professionals faster.
It takes up the same space on a desk as a personal conputer once did, and it consumes roughly the same amount of electricity - but we've had about twenty years of Moore's law since then.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 11:12 GMT Dave 126
Re: $5,999
It's hard to think of a task that a home user might do that justifies the extra cost if a Mac Pro. If the user is doing an intensive task so much that the price tag of the Mac Pro is offset by their time savings, they clearly take their hobby damned seriously.
If these tasks are not a hobby or education, then one assumes that they are for work. Hence "workstation". Yeah, it's a single user machine, but more 'professional' than 'personal'. The sums can be done to see if a faster computer allows for projects to be done more quickly, and thus more commissions undertaken and therefore more income generated. Cost / benefit.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 22:07 GMT Doctor Syntax
Re: To understand Apple prices ...
"The unique selling point of Apple is their customers can boast that they can afford to spend silly money for ordinary tech."
The appropriate response to "Sent from my iPad" sigs is "Are you boasting, complaining or apologising?" The response to "Sent from Windows 10 Mail" is shorter, of course.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 17:38 GMT Dave 126
> Six grand for what I would describe as eff all storage!
Anyone in the market for a Mac Pro will have redundant network / Thunderbolt storage, which the Mac can access at blistering speeds. The internal SSD is really just to buffer it. Why? Because 1, data on just one machine is vulnerable so it's not kept there, 2, the quantity of data they might need in a month could dwarf the amount of storage you could fit in to any desktop machine 3, if you don't need stupid IO speed for all data (archived) and so use spinning rust, you keep it in away from the workstation because it is noisy.
The value of hard disks from a day's video shoot is equivalent to the day's wage bill for all talent, extras, crew, transport, accomodation, insurance fees etc etc. Yeah, it gets very pricey very quickly. Storage redundancy is designed into every part of the workflow.
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Tuesday 26th January 2021 06:27 GMT deadlockvictim
Re: Astounding Apple Prices
If you haven't already done so, get yourself a mac cracker (long Torx-10), open up your SE/30 and either take out or replace the PRAM battery. It is a 3.6V ½AA battery. These weren't designed with 30 years' of service in mind and many have exploded, destroying the motherboard in the process.
Look up 'Maxell Bomb' if your search engine of choice for tales of sadness. The caps will also need to be replaced in the coming years.
You might also investigate a SCSI2SD and more RAM while you are about it.
The value of SE/30s is rising now and it may become an investment. They are worth anywhere between £100-£500 on eBay, depending on your luck and location.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 19:07 GMT doublelayer
Re: Can he keep it?
The section of the law that restricts this is the emoluments clause of the constitution, which is strict but limited:
"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. [...] and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them."
So if a foreign government gave him something, he would not be able to keep it. If someone else gives him something, he can keep it. Gifts can be given to the government directly, and if that happens, he couldn't take it, but if it was given to him directly, he can. Of course, it doesn't end there, because there are laws about bribery (obviously this computer isn't a bribe but other gifts could be) and the lawsuits about foreign governments buying stuff from his businesses haven't been decided yet. But he can keep the computer.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 23:42 GMT Robert Carnegie
Re: ... bicycle messengers until a few years ago?
How was Donald Trump "using" bicycle messengers, exactly? It isn't specified.
I think that one of Douglas Adams's "Dirk Gently" novels mentions a fictional celebrity who regularly has live chickens (I think) delivered to his hotel room, of which (the chickens) no trace is seen afterwards.
Spoiler? Late in the book, we hear second hand from someone that the celebrity pays to discreetly and mysteriously take the chickens away again. The whole thing is an ongoing publicity stunt by the celebrity, who finds it advantageous to have a very weird reputation.
In 2021 it seems unduly hard on the chickens, but compared to how a lot of them live anyway, even "free range", is it much worse? There's room service.
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Thursday 21st January 2021 19:04 GMT Danny 2
Jon Schwarz article on Trump's nuclear threat
This is off topic by the final line is hilarious.
By Far the Worst Thing Trump Did Was Flirt With Nuclear War With North Korea
When Trump was in the middle of his bizarre diplomacy with Kim Jong-un, he said something hilarious for perhaps the only time in his life: “As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that’s his problem, not mine.” It was funny because it was true.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 11:12 GMT SuperGeek
Re: Jon Schwarz article on Trump's nuclear threat
"When Trump was in the middle of his bizarre diplomacy with Kim Jong-un, he said something hilarious for perhaps the only time in his life: “As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that’s his problem, not mine.” It was funny because it was true."
Trump calling Kim Jong-un a madman? Pot calling kettle black!
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Friday 22nd January 2021 05:13 GMT Goopy
This is why you don't listen to your cousin's when they show you how to use fireworks.
Did no one heed the warning I chimed in on that the Senate hearings of the last administration were merely a dress rehearsal for what is still to come that I don't think Tim Cook is going to take kindly to.
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Friday 22nd January 2021 16:14 GMT VulcanV5
Wow:
A Trump supporter even managing to find its way here for the unique experience of associating with folks actually possessed of functioning brain cells. .
As to the glaringly obvious answers to two of the difficult-to-comprehend questions you asked:
YES. Biden (like) is the winner of the 2020 USA Presidential election.
And YES again: Biden is the most popular candidate in the entire history of those elections: (Biden, votes cast for: 81,283,098; Trump votes cast for: 74,222,958)
How generous you are to remind everyone of the scale of Joe Biden's achievement.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
