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On Second Thought for July 15, 2013

7/12/2013

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A lighthearted look at news of the day:

Last week an original Apple computer from 1976 was sold for almost $388,000. The best part is it came with 90 days of free tech support from a guy in Bombay.

Another Apple 1 sold for $671,400 in May. Sort of makes you wish you had hung onto your 5 ¼-inch floppy drive, doesn’t it?

Apple, meanwhile, lost a court case alleging it violated anti-trust laws by pricing its ebooks too high. So, you can’t charge $15 or $20 to read a new book on a cool state-of-the-art electronic reader, but you can get hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 37-year-old computer that might be able to play “pong”?  Who says capitalism is nutty?

Eliot Spitzer is running for comptroller of New York City. Anthony Wiener is running for mayor. Somewhere, Gary Hart is wondering what he did wrong.

Spitzer and Wiener both thought their political careers were over when they were caught up in sordid sex scandals. Turns out voters may like knowing they can’t learn anything about you that will shock or surprise them.

The federal government took in $117 billion more in June than it paid out. That’s what is known as a surplus — a word that has politicians everywhere searching for a dictionary.

Experts said the surplus was due in part to tax hikes, “sequestration” cuts and the newfound profitability of government-backed mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Washington called for a moment of silence while special-interest groups scrambled to rewrite their narratives.

Edward Snowden finally got some good offers of asylum this week from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, all three bastions of political and civil rights. At least he would find a greater degree of equality in those nations than in the United States, if you define that as a place where everyone is equally poor.

Snowden gave up a high-paying job and a home in Waipahu, Hawaii, and he may end up in Nicaragua, where the per capita income is $1,754. This isn’t exactly giving whistle-blowing a good name.

Social Media is spinning with excitement at the release of the film ‘Sharknado,’ which literally features giant sharks in tornadoes. Online video providers have already begun debating where to place film: Horror, Sci-fi, Action, Comedy or in the trash.

Sharks in tornadoes: That’s a good start. How about sharks and tornadoes attacking flight 1313 through the Bermuda triangle while aliens invade? In the climax, you learn the airplane is really a giant transformer.

Even better: A movie in which members of Congress unanimously decide to sacrifice their political careers to solve the nation’s fiscal problems. Naw, nobody would believe it.
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    Everyone likes to laugh. Some of us even like to groan occasionally. Well, you've come to the right place. "On second thought" is a weekly feature I  produce for the Deseret News, available on Mondays. But here you can read them as I think of them.
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