Why would Apple make me spoof a user-agent string to buy something from their store?

I discovered a while back that in Firefox, if I come across a page to an Apple App Store link, the link doesn't open the App Store, it takes me to a page where I can download the app store. Which I already have.

Someone mentioned that it works correctly in Safari.

I found that it also works in Firefox if you install the user-agent-switcher extension, and set a user agent to Safari, with the string
:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_6; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/10.0.648.127 Safari/534.16

Set that, switch user agent to Safari, and bingo, the link works.

Can anyone... ANYONE give me a non-paranoid-idiotic reason for Apple setting it up like this?

What, "We don't want you in our store buying stuff from us unless you're here in our browser."

I KNOW Apple's not that stupid... are they?

I just don't understand...

One of the greats of SF, Frederik Pohl, blogs!
When I first heard about this, I thought, "This is so cool!"

And then, today, I read this. Mass Murder Courtesy of the NRA

It's about the Tucson shootings, but Mr. Pohl's take on it is that the shootings are the fault of the NRA.

I can understand people feeling that the NRA make access to weapons too easy, but that's not it. Here's his take ......

However. the specific tool that Loughner used for his work of killing. was less widely reported.

He got them all — and wounded a dozen more — with his 9-millimeter Glock.

What is a Glock, and what is it designed to be used for? It’s a
rapid-fire weapon that can accommodate a 30-bullet clip, and it has only
one real use. It’s of very little value for hunting or for Grandma to
keep under her pillow to repel burglars. What it is good for is the
killing of groups of human beings by a single shooter, and for nothing
else.

For that reason, it was outlawed by federal statute until 2004, when
that law expired and our Congress, cowardly as it always is when it
comes to offending the National Rifle Association, failed to renew it.

Since no conventional rifle or pistol could have murdered so many so
fast, it is entirely due to the work of the National Rifle Association
that most of this current crop of victims are dead.

I lost count of how many errors there are in this short piece.

1. Pretty much every early story I read (which weren't that many. I hate repeat-news cycles) pointed out that the weapon was a Glock.
2. I don't see how it would be of any more or less value than any other gun for Grandma to keep under her pillow. It's lighter than some.
3. It's apparently good for other things than "killing of groups of human beings by a single shooter", being one of the top handguns chosen by law enforcement, and I don't think they're really known for that kind of thing.
4. I've had a Glock 17 for 20 years. I bought it used from the firing range I used to go to. Legally. I certainly never heard anything about it being outlawed by federal statute.
5. Pretty much ANY 'conventional' rifle or pistol could have murdered so many, so fast, since the Glock IS a 'conventional' pistol. I don't think it shoots much faster or slower than any other semi-auto.
   

I'm not an NRA member, but I have been in the past, and I don't think there's anything Mr. Pohl mentioned here that would make any member ashamed, since every point he made in his post is wrong. (Except the one about Christina Taylor Green probably not being a specific target. May she rest in peace.)

It's possible that he's a bit confused and thinks 'Glock' means '30 round magazine'. If that's the case, he probably doesn't know that 30 round magazines are also available for Smith & Wessons, Berettas, (that I checked on) and probably most other semi-auto handguns and rifles.

It sounds more like he thinks 'Glock' means 'Devil gun'. He's got that big honkin' picture of a Glock beneath the headline, and he seems to focus on the brand name more than any features (other than its magical and nonexistant rapid fire capabilities).

I don't know what the heck he's talking about, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't either.

---

AND.. I had my first blog comments deleted!

He invited comments on his piece, and I posted:

I’ve owned a 9mm Glock 17 for almost 20 years. I purchased it used at the gun range where I used to shoot.

When were they banned by Federal law?

I don’t know why it is any less useful to Grandma for keeping under her pillow than any other gun, nor how it differs from a “conventional pistol or rifle” in it’s ability to murder so many so fast.

It’s no more rapid fire than any other semi-automatic handgun.

What the heck are you talking about?.

---

But please, since I’ve never posted here before, let me also say that I’ve loved your writing since I started reading science fiction in the 60’s.

“Man Plus” is still one of my favorite all time novels.

They sat in moderation for a while, and then were gone.

UPDATE: I looked this morning, and they're back. possibly a moderating hiccup.

Running and Rambling: Soft Star RunAmoc Giveaway

These look kind of interesting. I've never tried any of the vibram-five-finger/barefoot-type style running shoes, but I know a lot of people swear by them.

Running and Rambling: Soft Star RunAmoc Giveaway

from IMMD

I am in the Army and currently stationed in Korea. One
Monday it was particularly rainy and dreary. While I was walking to work
I decided to splash through the puddles on the sidewalk like I used to
do as a little kid. A Captain stopped me and asked what I was doing. I
replied, “Letting my inner child out for a walk, Sir!” He laughed and
said, “Carry on, soldier.” As he walked away he splashed a few puddles
himself, laughed, and walked out of sight. IMMD and my week!

IMMD

Thought for the day

Be not so busy
making a living
that you forget
to make a life

WISDOM FROM TRAINING MANUALS

'If the enemy is in range, so are you.'

- Infantry Journal-
--------------------

'It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.'

- US. Air Force Manual -
--------------------

'Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword, obviously never encountered automatic weapons.'

- General Mac Arthur -
--------------------

'You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me.'

- Infantry Sgt.-
--------------------

'Tracers work both ways.'

- Army Ordnance Manual-
--------------------

'Five second fuses last about three seconds.'

- Infantry Journal -
--------------------

The three most useless things in aviation are:
Fuel in the bowser; Runway behind you; and Air above you.

-Basic Flight Training Manual-
--------------------

'Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once.'

- Naval Ops Manual -
--------------------

'Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.'

- Unknown Infantry Recruit-
--------------------

'If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up to him.'

- Infantry Journal-
--------------------

'Yea, Though I Fly Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 50,000 Feet and Climbing.'

- Sign over SR71 Wing Ops-
--------------------

'You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.'

-Paul F. Crickmore (SR71 test pilot)-
--------------------

'The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.'

-Unknown Author-
--------------------

'If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage it has to be a helicopter
 -- and therefore, unsafe.'

- Fixed Wing Pilot-
--------------------

'When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.'

-Multi-Engine Training Manual-
--------------------

'Without ammunition, the Air Force is just an expensive flying club.'

-Unknown Author-
--------------------

'If you hear me yell;"Eject, Eject, Eject!", the last two will be echoes.'
If you stop to ask "Why?", you'll be talking to yourself, because by then you'll be the pilot.'

-Pre-flight Briefing from a Canadian F104 Pilot-
--------------------

'What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots?
If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; but If ATC screws up, .... the pilot dies.'

-Sign over Control Tower Door-
--------------------

'Never trade luck for skill.'

-Author Unknown-
--------------------

The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in military aviation are:

'Did you feel that?' 'What's that noise?' and 'Oh S...!'

-Authors Unknown-
--------------------

'Airspeed, altitude and brains.
Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight.'

-Basic Flight Training Manual-
--------------------

'Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.'

- Emergency Checklist-
--------------------

'The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you.'

- Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot) -
--------------------

'There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.'

-Sign over Squadron Ops Desk at Davis-Montham AFB, AZ-
--------------------

'You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.'

- Lead-in Fighter Training Manual -
--------------------

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives.
The rescuer sees the bloodied pilot and asks, 'What happened?'
The pilot's reply: 'I don't know, I just got here myself

--------------------

(via Robyn Saunders)

A passage I can never get through without a sniffle.

Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.
     I turned to go home. Street lights winked down the street all the way to town. I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle.
     There were Miss Maudie's, Miss Stephanie's- there was our house, I could see the porch swing- Miss Rachel's house was beyond us, plainly visible. I could even see Mrs. Dubose's.
     I looked behind me. To the left of the brown door was a long shuttered window. I walked to it, stood in front of it, and turned around. In daylight, I thought, you could see to the postoffice corner.
     Daylight... in my mind, the night faded. It was daytime and the neighborhood was busy. Miss Stephanie Crawford crossed the street to tell the latest to Miss Rachel. Miss Maudie bent over her azaleas.
     It was summertime, and two children scampered down the sidewalk toward a man approaching in the distance. The man waved, and the children raced each other to him.
     It was still summertime, and the children came closer. A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.
     It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose's. The boy helped his sister to her feet, and they made their way home. Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day's woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.
     Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.
     Summer, and he watched his children's heart break. Autumn again, and Boo's children needed him.