Der Feuervogel aufersteht.

I have been told (by a self-proclaimed expert, no less) that people won't pay to go to cons unless there's some sort of immersive/experiential experience, and that they don't care about programming or guests.

I know a lot of you attend cons, as guests and as fans. What do you think: true? bullshit? somewhere in the middle?

Feel free to link this around.

Pursuant to a discussion I was told I'm not allowed to have in comments on someone else's facebook post because I'm "imposing my opinions in [their] space" and I "must" pursue it in my own space (see question below), I'm thinking about writing a post about the gross assumptions of economic and able-bodied privilege in the slow food movement. And, yes, for fuck's sake, I want fucking comments on it; it's not a fucking imposition to discuss something.

Also thinking about organizing all my ho-shit and planning stuff for Operation: Move to Berlin in a single post for future reference, rather than having a bunch of random shit bookmarked (or not bookmarked at all, leaving me to try to remember which terms I put in google to get the link I'm looking for).

Question: Is it "imposing your opinions in someone else's space" to comment disagreeing with an article they linked to, or a post they wrote? Is one obligated to comment on one's own facebook or LJ, rather than use the fucking convenient "comment here" button?

I have always believed that it is passive-aggressive sniping to, for example, write a post for the sole purpose of disagreeing with someone, even if you don't say "Person X says blah." You can twist their words, especially if you don't link back (because that person's journal is f-locked, or because 95% of your friends aren't friends with them on facebook, or whatever). If you sit back and don't engage someone directly, but passive-aggressively snipe them through posts similar to my first paragraph*, that's just not cool.

Aside from that, it results in a very disjointed "conversation," which some of the people who read LJ A but not LJ B (and both are locked) cannot participate in.

*which I did on purpose

For those of you who have been following the saga of my Samsung Captivate and how I want to set it on fire, it's been acting weirder than usual, even after I got D to root it and put CyanogenMod 7 on it. Like, it gets really laggy, and at random it crashes to the skateboarding android boot screen. At 1 am, which wakes me up. This morning, it got stuck in a boot loop until I popped the battery. (The last time that happened, I had to re-flash it from recovery mode and lost 3 months' worth of data.)

As much as I hate the wastefulness of getting a new phone every two years, this phone just really sucks, and I can't even justify keeping it because it's a perfectly good phone. It's shit.

So, I need to decide between AT&T's Android offerings, the best of which right now is the Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket (the Galaxy Note is too big, and too expensive at $249), and an iPhone. (The Galaxy S3 was just released, and it's $199, the same as a low-end iPhone 4S. However, I am extremely reluctant to get another new-hardware phone, based on how fucking broken the Captivate/Galaxy S was at launch. You may recall I used my warranty replacement TWICE in three months.)

Pros of Android:
- seamless integration with gmail, gcal, gmail contacts, gtalk
- I'm comfortable and familiar with it
- I like widgets
- I can get a refurbished Galaxy S2 for $9.99 online (though that is kind of terrifying; the phones I replaced under warranty because they had the randomly-powers-off bug could be resold as "refurbished.")

Cons of Android:
- can't update the software without Windows (thank you, Samsung)

Pros of iPhone:
- can update using my MacBook
- just fucking works

Cons of iPhone:
- doesn't sync gmail contacts (afaik)
- requires workarounds to make gcal work
- I don't really use my phone to listen to music
- not sure I can back up my saved data (Angry Birds, and, dammit, I have a lot of hard 3-stars on that)

So, friends, tell me: have any of you switched from Android to iPhone? Are my fears justified? Should I be concerned about the new hardware issue on the Galaxy S3 (same price as iPhone 4S!) What other questions should I be asking myself?

I'm ready to throw this piece of crap across the room. Help me decide what phone to get next, internet.

Thanks to a conversation on twitter, I know I'm not the only person who feels this way; I'm just wondering how common it is.

I'm completely croggled that people casually assume or casually state that they'll be getting some sort of inheritance when their parents die. I've never assumed I'd get anything other than debt to pay off or possessions to sell off when my parents die. At least my mom's house is almost paid for; no idea about dad's. (And another comment on twitter reminds me that someone's got to pay for the funerals...)

To copy and paste someone's comment to a friend's post (completely without attribution and with some paraphrasing/editing), this is what sparked this line of thought:

There's also a sense of "it's spending down the inheritance either way; this way's just time-shifted". I trust my parents to have a good sense of their financial planning and what they intended to leave me, and if they happen to want to transfer some of that to me now rather than later, that's fine.

My mom doesn't buy me stuff. She stopped even sending me money at Christmas and my birthday a few years ago. She had to do two major home repairs last summer (ac/heat and water heater both died at the same time), and her tight budget got even tighter. I honestly don't know if she has a retirement savings plan, or if the United Methodist Church even offers one for their secretaries, or even if they did, if she'd have enough income to be able to split off a hundred bucks here or there to save up. (She's a blasted SECRETARY. For a CHURCH. If she makes more than 30k (or equivalent for the DC-Metro area), I'd be astonished.) The only thing I expect to receive from her is the treadle-powered Singer, which is what I told her I wanted when she asked when she made her will. If I'm still in this country, anyway. (It would be really cool if I could figure out how to get it to work, because it has feet useful for old-fashioned clothesmaking, like piping.)

Dad does buy me stuff sometimes, usually alcoholic beverages on the rare occasions we see each other. I have no idea what his financial situation is like. I assume not very good, because he's never been good at saving, and he's an owner-operator (that is, truck driver). I don't think you get 401(k)s with those jobs. He's got his truck and his house, which together could fetch probably half a million*, though I don't know what of that his girlfriend co-owns.

*Truck resale value depends on the age of the truck, mileage on the engine, and how fancy the sleeper area is. His has a huge bed (2 bunks, I think), a kitchenette, and a lav with shower.

Anyway, it just boggles my mind that people casually mention things like inheritance. Is it just me? Is it a product of my working class upbringing?