[Swordmaker]

This is one of the most absurd and hilarious articles on Apple I think I have seen, taking the Cult meme and raising it to the heights of ridiculousness. . . as this so-called Professor takes a tour of Apple's store and anything she sees is interpreted as a Religious Trope. . . She would interpret ANYTHING as such. If Apple had a traditional cash register and a line of people queuing to pay, she'd claim they were acolytes waiting to receive the host and holy blood in the wine sacrament and blessing of the priest! Everything in the Apple Stores is there because it is intended to deliberately build the RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE among the CULT LIKE FANS in this idiot's opinion, even the huge doors on the Apple Stores and the religious stairways upward. HILARIOUS! — PING!

All Hail, St. Jobs!
According to this "Professor"
Ping!

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[Lake Living]

Nah, I personally think banks are still way ahead. After all, you can’t buy without $$$.

[dayglored]

This is wonderful. Great, beautiful pics of great, beautiful architecture.

Now you know that I'm nobody's fanboi: I run Windows, Linux, Unix, and OS X; I like Fujitsu, Samsung, and Apple hardware; etc. And you also know that I've worked with Apple gear since the Apple II, with MSDOS/Windows gear since the first IBM-PC, and with Unix gear since 1985.

So please take this gently.

Of course Apple mania has some aspects of a cult -- I don't think that's a bad thing. Excitement over technology is natural, and some percentage of excited people will be passionate to the point of excess. Gearheads will be gearheads, fans will be fans.

Only a small percentage of fans (Apple, Windows, Linux, etc.) are possessed of a "cult mentality", in which their favored thing -- company, product line, operating system, whatever -- can do nothing wrong. Sports fans and automobile fans do exactly the same thing.

SO WHAT?

I see nothing wrong with it. I might giggle and point when it's silly. But in the case of Apple, the end result is some gorgeous architecture that is the modern equivalent of the cathedrals of medieval Europe. Celebrate it! Embrace the extravagance that gives us such beauty.

And, of course, prepare for the inevitable cat-calls from those who are fans of the "other team". Big deal.