Is Herman Cain’s ’9-9-9 Plan’ Coming from SimCity? And the iPhone’s Siri Shows Her Saucier Side
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Republican presidential candidate and former pizza mogul Herman Cain is taking heat for his 999 tax plan, which would establish a corporate income tax at
9%, personal income tax also at 9%, and national sales tax at (you guessed it) 9%. Though Cain says his plan would fix the economy, there's some haziness about the plan's origins. Some say Cain got the 9-9-9 idea from the video game SimCity. In SimCity 4, which was released in 2003, residents of the game's virtual city also lived under a 9-9-9 tax plan (because of the 9% commercial, industrial, and residential taxes). Social media is buzzing about the similarity between Cain's tax plan and the video game. When asked about it, a spokesperson for Cain's campaign said, "Well, we all like 9-9-9." But SimCity may not have the best real world applications. A producer of the game said, "Our game design team thought that an easy-to-understand taxation system would allow players to focus on building their cities and have fun thwarting giant lizard attacks, rather than be buried by overly complex financial systems." On Twitter, @ddisabatinosaid, "Herman Cain took his tax plan from Sim City. Also, got war strategy from Halo, and music skills from Guitar Hero."
The iPhone 4S hits stores today and people are smitten with Siri, the phone's new natural-voiced digital assistant. She's great at answering straightforward questions. When asked by a New York City tech reporter, "Will I need an umbrella?" Siri answered, "Yes, it's likely to rain today." (Watch the video.) But it's Siri's answers to off-the-cuff questions that has everyone talking. If asked, "What's the meaning of life?" she replies, "I don't know, but I think there's an app for that." With saucier questions like, "What are you wearing," Siri responds, "Aluminosilicate glass and stainless steel. Nice, huh?" There's even a whole Tumblr site devoted to Siri's snarky answers called S--- that Siri Says. So you see, Siri's not your everyday digital assistant, she's an assistant with an attitude. Do you plan to get the iPhone 4S? Tell us how Siri answers your questions on Facebook and Twitter!