I'm a new "road warrior" (in 3 weeks, my training will be over and I'll officially be on the road, Monday-Friday, 35 weeks/year.) So far, I'm packing:
1 work provided cellphone (some sort of Nokia)
That's it! Without the distractions of a laptop, I've actually been working out on the road in the various hotel workout rooms. Or climbing their stairwells. I've dropped 10 pounds in 2 weeks, gotten stronger, look somewhat better, etc.
Of course, the temptation is there, so let's go a bit further:
Am looking for a laptop (see my post about m6807.. I'm thinking one of the 10.3" Lifebooks or Sony's might be more my bag. Anyone know how Maya runs (if at all) using the Intel 855GM chipset?). I've got a Sony Cybershot 2.1 megapixel camera that I'd like to start using to take pictures of various cities with. My Sony-Ericsson T608, once my number porting is complete.
Hey, I remember a guy who didn't like America. He went to another country whose values he did espouse and joined in their quest to consolidate their power and more completely form the state that he envisioned. And then the US invaded that country and brought him back. Just goes to show, you gotta fight your battles at home, I suppose, because even if you leave, they'll bring you back.
*In no way do I espouse the tenets of fundamentalist Islam or do I endorse the human rights violations of the Taliban (or the Northern Alliance, for that matter).
Unfortunately, for my uses (3D content creation, gaming, etc), I rather require the higher end ATI card. And, not being a regular Linux user anymore, driver support under Linux is no longer an issue for me, either. Also, there's no DVDR option and their extended warranty is $299 for 3 years (eMachines is $189, but BestBuy will "pricematch" it). It looks to be a decent machine, but a step backwards, IMO.
I know.. and Best Buy had a $250 MIB awhile back, too. DAMMIT. Now, the question is, do I really want a DVDR or can I do without? (Doing without now on the desktop)
eMachines did the "unthinkable" by releasing an actual kick-ass desktop replacement laptop in the m6805 and m6807 series. Both sport Athlon64's. Unfortunately, since news of the Gateway acquisition, finding the m6807 (which comes with a DVD+/-R) has been an exercise in futility. The eMachines site lists the m6807, but clicking "buy now" gets a "there are no online resellers of this product" message. Circuit City is out. Best Buy never seems to have gotten any, although you can find the m6805 at both.
So, Gateway, eMachines had a great laptop there, don't fuck it up.
Now, if only Alias/Wavefront would get off their butts and port the full Maya Unlimited over to OS X. It's rather interesting to see the Unlimited version available for Windows, Linux, and SGI, but no OS X version. If Maya users want to use OS X and also want to use the fluid effects, fur, and cloth modules, they have to keep an x86 machine around specifically for that, unless something's happened in the past year or so that I'm not aware of. Of course, from Alias's POV, it's probably nice to get to sell a Maya Complete license *and* a Maya Unlimited license.
Re:heating and cooling costs?
on
DIY HVAC
·
· Score: 1
Actually, I'm a cold-freak. I don't turn on any of the heaters in my apartment and just wear socks on my feet to keep them from getting too cold, or wrap up in a blanket. The heat from downstairs is enough to keep things above freezing.:) Of course, I also wear shorts year round... (Mid-Winter electric bill: $38).
Re:Here's some solutions to help lower the bill:
on
DIY HVAC
·
· Score: 1
Your advice is sound, except a lot of us (well, me) live in apartments. Mine is a converted house (3 units). The biggest problem is that I have no control over what the landlords decide to use where. The biggest thing I've done is put those nifty flourescent "bulbs" in various light sockets.
Here's some solutions to help lower the bill:
on
DIY HVAC
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
It's quite simple, really.
Learn to do without.
I know it sounds contrite, but hear me out.
Do you really need both of those monitors? If not, chuck one, or turn it off. Monitors draw quite a bit of power. Also, make sure you turn off your monitors when you're not using them, or make sure their power saving modes are on. Alternatively, you could go LCD to help reduce the costs, but I've always looked at that with some suspicion in that the prohibitive costs related to 19" and higher LCD's offset the potential savings.
How many computers are you running? If the answer is more than one, ask yourself if you really *need* to be running the others. Sure it's nice that you've gotten that old P233 up and running as your firewall, but frankly, a Linksys dedicated router/firewall is going to draw much less power, with fewer moving parts.
Air Conditioning: Learn to live a bit warmer. Learn to open windows instead of reaching for the thermostat. You'll find that your body can and will adjust to warmer temperatures if you let it. I live in the South with oppressive humidity and heat during the summer and my dad tells me stories of him growing up when they didn't have A/C. It can be done. And, if you follow the first 2 items above, you'll find your house isn't as hot. Computers + Monitors == lots of heat. Now, in my apartment, I don't have central A/C, only a couple window units, unfortunately. A trick I've learned is to shut the door to my bedroom, which happens to be decently sized, and only run the A/C in that room. It gets downright cold pretty fast. Now, it does make me somewhat of a prisoner in that room, only venturing out to use the can or to cook something in the kitchen, but I've learned to cope. Besides, I can grab my laptop and browse the web wirelessly from anywhere in my house. Also, at least here, the hottest part of the summers is only one or 2 months that you have to "suffer" through. Actually, if you work a lot, here's an excuse to work some OT.:)
My bill dropped from $150/month to less than $50/month once I adopted these measures.
If you're married with kids, feel free to ignore because I'm assuming most of the/. readership are bachelor males. Of course, a fantasy alternative would be to get a girlfriend with her own place and just crash over there.
Of course, that would require, you know, effort. He's already found a solution that works. It's guaranteed to be 100% compatible, it cost $60, and now instead of dicking around trying to open up a Word document instead of, you know, working, he's reading the documents, and doing other stuff. There's a return on investment involved here. While OO may suit your needs and while you may have the time (and interest) to dick around with "compatibility" problems, some folks just want to work.
Lol.. Yeah, I guess you're right. I was around since before the "split" (Logistics, Express, Custom Critical, Ground, Services, and a couple others? I've forgotten). I, however, would look at that as more of a "Well, it happened over there, it could happen here..." mentality.
Just in case you don't know: FedEx has laid off people. Over 150 IT personnel in Memphis were laid off a couple years ago. It's just a guideline, not actually a policy. There was no offer to let them move or anything. Really sucks to be them.
However, FedEx is great for providing part-time jobs for college kids. Caveat, though, even though it's a part-time job, it comes with full-time job responsibilities, but the compensation and benefits package more than makes up for it.:)
As an ex-FedEx employee (Memphis, TN - HUB), I can attest that the "beaurocratic" nature of not knowing its ass from its head was not always the case. I spent 9 years in the Hub where I witnessed the transformation from a company that listened to its employees, where ideas were greeted with optimism and were actually appreciated, where employees actively worked to improve processes, to a company that now basically says "Hey, you're going to do it this way, whether you like it or not." Gone is the arena of competing ideas of "getting the job done better." In the old environment, groups "competed" with one another (in a friendly manner), and watched how each other did things, looking for ideas to integrate with their workflow. Now, it's regimented. People who loved doing what they did (like, say, me) were forced into cookie cutter positions with little to no "official" flexibility. It seemed that the rules and guidelines being churned out were being written by people who NEVER worked in the hub, just like you are describing. And this is Memphis, where they all reside.
And don't get me started on the whole "promoting from within" fallacy.
It's not that at all. It's just that some people will justify everything for a "paycheck". If they were faced with collecting their paycheck and working for an unethical company or QUITTING (or whistleblowing or whatever) and being forced into downsizing their lifestyle (by getting smaller living quarters, using alternative transportation, quit eating out so much, etc etc), most people will gladly turn a blind eye towards the company's behavoir (and most likely keep their mouths shut because they're too scared that they'll lose their job) and continue on as if nothing happened. It's the fact that they choose LIFESTYLE over ETHICS that disturbs me, and yet that's what they choose.
$10 can be underpaid for a skilled position. However, I know (and have been) one of the many people in this country who have lived on less for significant periods of time. It usually involves roomates and doing "without" for a lot of things (don't go see first-run movies, don't eat out a lot, etc), but its certainly doable. My real point is that money isn't everything and people make it out that if they don't have a paycheck, because they failed to plan in advance and prepare themselves for the worst and dug themselves so deeply in debt to satisfy some sort of sick, consumer lifestyle that they can't even bother to give a shit about what they do for a living. These are people who will bitch endlessly on this topic about being laid off, but if Mr. Ralsky, the spammer, were to offer them a job doing spam, they'd take it without hesitation.
Basically, I'm accusing the majority of/. readers of being spineless little rats who will use their "family" as an EXCUSE to continue working for unethical businesses. Go ahead/.ers, hide behind your kids, your family. They'll understand when they're 18 and you're yelling at them about their "lifestyle choices" and then point to you and say "Hey, you worked at Enron and you didn't do anything about that. Go fuck yourself, dad. You're a real winner, alright" and wonder why their kids or their friends or even their family doesn't respect them.
Define fucking "underpaid". Most fucking IT people I know make > $10/hour, and they fucking bitch relentlessly about how they live paycheck to paycheck. Guess what, pal? At $10/hour, they're making MORE MONEY than a good majority of the citizens in this country. NO FUCKING SHIT. I used to be there, making minimum wage, living in a shit-hole, eating ramen and rice. But you know what? If it came to that or being a fucking coward because my Employer was an unethical piece of shit and I knew it, I'll be back to ramen. YOU choose your lifestyle. When you realize that a stupid movie called "Fight Club" was right on several points (you are not what you own, you are not your string-bean couch, you are not what's in y our wallet) and learn to live on LESS (and you'll find you appreciate those things even more), then you don't have to worry about living "paycheck to paycheck" because you've reduced your living expenses considerably. Do you really need that $400 SUV out in the driveway? Do you really need that 1600 sq ft house with the 1 acre yard? No, you don't.
Imagine this stupid scenario: You find out your company is doing business selling 12 year old little boys and girls into the sex trade. You need your paycheck. Are you such a fucking coward that you'll stay, just so you can keep earning a paycheck? What's that? You don't care? Fuck you. You're a fucking coward.
Merv: man, I was thinking.. this here carp we're in just sucks. Just swimming around, doing nothing all day long, man.. we gotta get outta here..
Bob: Man, I feel ya, but how?
Merv: See, I figure, if we jump just right, we can actually jump out of this here carp and, I dunno, inject ourselves into those plants on the shoreline..
Damn skippy. I've been looking for a portable MP3* player recently, as I will soon have a job that requires frequent travel. However, $399 was/still is a bit steep. The ability to use it as a portable firewire HD is nifty, but useless for my usage. Anyway, $100, 800 songs, that's definately a keeper. I may have that in my change can.:)
No, you silly man. It is NOT BSD that's dying. It's Santa Claus. Every year, millions of children around the Western world are discovering Santa Claus isn't real.:: sigh:: I don't have the energy to try and finish this one.. Anyone?
I second this. I have had Timbuk2 "commuter" bag (slightly different from the standard messenger bag) for over 4 years with no problems. I've found that it is the perfect "size" for carrying 6 O'Reilly-sized tomes (PowerTools size), plus notebook, graphing calc, drafting pencils, etc etc, not to mention a Sony Vaio 505FX in the *outer* pocket. Granted, with that load you end up cutting the circulation to your head if you try to ride with it slung cross-body, but that's another story altogether.
I *heart* my timbuk2: Lots of storage capacity, incredible durability, heavy ABS buckles and connectors, great stitching, etc etc. And you can pick them up on eBay for considerably less than the website!:)
/* I had a harder time believing that Tom Cruise's character could take out four or five samurai before even getting any samurai training.... not to mention he somehow managed to hold them off with a flagpole of all things... */
Why not believable? Do you believe that somehow, if you are Japanese and a samurai that you are invincible and superior to every other person in the world? Why? Just because you train in an art does not make you immediately "better" in the areas of combat. In fact, it might be said that regimented training, if enacted as dogma, could be detrimental to training. See the plethora of McDojo's around America: kids learning strictly katas and going through motions who think they're somehow transferred into "bad ass" status get their asses handed to them by hardened kids who learned how to fight on the street. There are great fighters/warriors all over the world and not all of them were formally trained. Also, just because you train every day doesn't mean you're a master. There were samurai who sucked.:P
Well, let's be honest a bit. She was 81 years old. However, like everyone else in the civilized world, everyone else recognizes that an automobile is NOT a preferred food consumption platform, moving or not.
I agree, don't put fucking hot coffee in your crotch if you don't want to get burned.
You are correct, my mistake in the moving car. However, she was wearing sweatpants (tights) that held the liquid against her skin and refused to remove them or attempt to negate the heating action against her skin.
McD's hot coffee rationale was that you're commuting to work, you shouldn't be trying to drink/eat and drive, and by the time you get to work, the coffee is still nice and hot. That's what you get when you try to do other stuff when trying to drive.
I've bought/drank McD's coffee pre-lawsuit and didn't have much of an issue (but then again, further research shows that it may have been a regional issue in New Mexico restaurants).
So.. 700 "cases".. out of how many cups served from 1982-1992? Billions, I'd gather. You are statistically more likely to get hit by lightening, run over by an Amtrak, or contract some sort of VD. So, you're saying that McDonald's should *change* something that obviously millions of other customers had no problem with on a daily basis just to satisfy the 700 fucking morons who don't understand "boiling water is hot"?
Let's also look at the situation: Woman pours (accidentally) scalding water/coffee into her lap while traveling in a car pool (a moving car is not conducive for keeping liquids in a stable state). She removed the top to add her cream and sugar, rather than waiting for the car to stop, thus increasing the potential for spillage. She was wearing fleece tights, which absorbed the material and held the liquid close to her skin. When asked if she needed to stop and remove her tights or try to dry them out, she refused and allowed the car pool to continue, meanwhile the still hot liquid COOKS her skin. So, her failure to ACT after her accident also contributed to the problem and her subsequent injury.
700 people out of billions served got "burned". Think about that.
Slashdot Mirror
Nice!
:(
I'm a new "road warrior" (in 3 weeks, my training will be over and I'll officially be on the road, Monday-Friday, 35 weeks/year.) So far, I'm packing:
1 work provided cellphone (some sort of Nokia)
That's it! Without the distractions of a laptop, I've actually been working out on the road in the various hotel workout rooms. Or climbing their stairwells. I've dropped 10 pounds in 2 weeks, gotten stronger, look somewhat better, etc.
Of course, the temptation is there, so let's go a bit further:
Am looking for a laptop (see my post about m6807.. I'm thinking one of the 10.3" Lifebooks or Sony's might be more my bag. Anyone know how Maya runs (if at all) using the Intel 855GM chipset?).
I've got a Sony Cybershot 2.1 megapixel camera that I'd like to start using to take pictures of various cities with.
My Sony-Ericsson T608, once my number porting is complete.
Maybe I just need to turn in my geek card now..
Hey, I remember a guy who didn't like America. He went to another country whose values he did espouse and joined in their quest to consolidate their power and more completely form the state that he envisioned. And then the US invaded that country and brought him back. Just goes to show, you gotta fight your battles at home, I suppose, because even if you leave, they'll bring you back.
*In no way do I espouse the tenets of fundamentalist Islam or do I endorse the human rights violations of the Taliban (or the Northern Alliance, for that matter).
Unfortunately, for my uses (3D content creation, gaming, etc), I rather require the higher end ATI card. And, not being a regular Linux user anymore, driver support under Linux is no longer an issue for me, either. Also, there's no DVDR option and their extended warranty is $299 for 3 years (eMachines is $189, but BestBuy will "pricematch" it). It looks to be a decent machine, but a step backwards, IMO.
I know.. and Best Buy had a $250 MIB awhile back, too. DAMMIT. Now, the question is, do I really want a DVDR or can I do without? (Doing without now on the desktop)
eMachines did the "unthinkable" by releasing an actual kick-ass desktop replacement laptop in the m6805 and m6807 series. Both sport Athlon64's. Unfortunately, since news of the Gateway acquisition, finding the m6807 (which comes with a DVD+/-R) has been an exercise in futility. The eMachines site lists the m6807, but clicking "buy now" gets a "there are no online resellers of this product" message. Circuit City is out. Best Buy never seems to have gotten any, although you can find the m6805 at both.
So, Gateway, eMachines had a great laptop there, don't fuck it up.
Now, if only Alias/Wavefront would get off their butts and port the full Maya Unlimited over to OS X. It's rather interesting to see the Unlimited version available for Windows, Linux, and SGI, but no OS X version. If Maya users want to use OS X and also want to use the fluid effects, fur, and cloth modules, they have to keep an x86 machine around specifically for that, unless something's happened in the past year or so that I'm not aware of. Of course, from Alias's POV, it's probably nice to get to sell a Maya Complete license *and* a Maya Unlimited license.
Actually, I'm a cold-freak. I don't turn on any of the heaters in my apartment and just wear socks on my feet to keep them from getting too cold, or wrap up in a blanket. The heat from downstairs is enough to keep things above freezing. :) Of course, I also wear shorts year round... (Mid-Winter electric bill: $38).
Your advice is sound, except a lot of us (well, me) live in apartments. Mine is a converted house (3 units). The biggest problem is that I have no control over what the landlords decide to use where. The biggest thing I've done is put those nifty flourescent "bulbs" in various light sockets.
It's quite simple, really.
:)
/. readership are bachelor males. Of course, a fantasy alternative would be to get a girlfriend with her own place and just crash over there.
Learn to do without.
I know it sounds contrite, but hear me out.
Do you really need both of those monitors? If not, chuck one, or turn it off. Monitors draw quite a bit of power. Also, make sure you turn off your monitors when you're not using them, or make sure their power saving modes are on. Alternatively, you could go LCD to help reduce the costs, but I've always looked at that with some suspicion in that the prohibitive costs related to 19" and higher LCD's offset the potential savings.
How many computers are you running? If the answer is more than one, ask yourself if you really *need* to be running the others. Sure it's nice that you've gotten that old P233 up and running as your firewall, but frankly, a Linksys dedicated router/firewall is going to draw much less power, with fewer moving parts.
Air Conditioning: Learn to live a bit warmer. Learn to open windows instead of reaching for the thermostat. You'll find that your body can and will adjust to warmer temperatures if you let it. I live in the South with oppressive humidity and heat during the summer and my dad tells me stories of him growing up when they didn't have A/C. It can be done. And, if you follow the first 2 items above, you'll find your house isn't as hot. Computers + Monitors == lots of heat. Now, in my apartment, I don't have central A/C, only a couple window units, unfortunately. A trick I've learned is to shut the door to my bedroom, which happens to be decently sized, and only run the A/C in that room. It gets downright cold pretty fast. Now, it does make me somewhat of a prisoner in that room, only venturing out to use the can or to cook something in the kitchen, but I've learned to cope. Besides, I can grab my laptop and browse the web wirelessly from anywhere in my house. Also, at least here, the hottest part of the summers is only one or 2 months that you have to "suffer" through. Actually, if you work a lot, here's an excuse to work some OT.
My bill dropped from $150/month to less than $50/month once I adopted these measures.
If you're married with kids, feel free to ignore because I'm assuming most of the
Of course, that would require, you know, effort. He's already found a solution that works. It's guaranteed to be 100% compatible, it cost $60, and now instead of dicking around trying to open up a Word document instead of, you know, working, he's reading the documents, and doing other stuff. There's a return on investment involved here. While OO may suit your needs and while you may have the time (and interest) to dick around with "compatibility" problems, some folks just want to work.
Lol.. Yeah, I guess you're right. I was around since before the "split" (Logistics, Express, Custom Critical, Ground, Services, and a couple others? I've forgotten). I, however, would look at that as more of a "Well, it happened over there, it could happen here..." mentality.
Just in case you don't know: FedEx has laid off people. Over 150 IT personnel in Memphis were laid off a couple years ago. It's just a guideline, not actually a policy. There was no offer to let them move or anything. Really sucks to be them.
:)
However, FedEx is great for providing part-time jobs for college kids. Caveat, though, even though it's a part-time job, it comes with full-time job responsibilities, but the compensation and benefits package more than makes up for it.
As an ex-FedEx employee (Memphis, TN - HUB), I can attest that the "beaurocratic" nature of not knowing its ass from its head was not always the case. I spent 9 years in the Hub where I witnessed the transformation from a company that listened to its employees, where ideas were greeted with optimism and were actually appreciated, where employees actively worked to improve processes, to a company that now basically says "Hey, you're going to do it this way, whether you like it or not." Gone is the arena of competing ideas of "getting the job done better." In the old environment, groups "competed" with one another (in a friendly manner), and watched how each other did things, looking for ideas to integrate with their workflow. Now, it's regimented. People who loved doing what they did (like, say, me) were forced into cookie cutter positions with little to no "official" flexibility. It seemed that the rules and guidelines being churned out were being written by people who NEVER worked in the hub, just like you are describing. And this is Memphis, where they all reside.
And don't get me started on the whole "promoting from within" fallacy.
It's not that at all. It's just that some people will justify everything for a "paycheck". If they were faced with collecting their paycheck and working for an unethical company or QUITTING (or whistleblowing or whatever) and being forced into downsizing their lifestyle (by getting smaller living quarters, using alternative transportation, quit eating out so much, etc etc), most people will gladly turn a blind eye towards the company's behavoir (and most likely keep their mouths shut because they're too scared that they'll lose their job) and continue on as if nothing happened. It's the fact that they choose LIFESTYLE over ETHICS that disturbs me, and yet that's what they choose.
$10 can be underpaid for a skilled position. However, I know (and have been) one of the many people in this country who have lived on less for significant periods of time. It usually involves roomates and doing "without" for a lot of things (don't go see first-run movies, don't eat out a lot, etc), but its certainly doable. My real point is that money isn't everything and people make it out that if they don't have a paycheck, because they failed to plan in advance and prepare themselves for the worst and dug themselves so deeply in debt to satisfy some sort of sick, consumer lifestyle that they can't even bother to give a shit about what they do for a living. These are people who will bitch endlessly on this topic about being laid off, but if Mr. Ralsky, the spammer, were to offer them a job doing spam, they'd take it without hesitation.
/. readers of being spineless little rats who will use their "family" as an EXCUSE to continue working for unethical businesses. Go ahead /.ers, hide behind your kids, your family. They'll understand when they're 18 and you're yelling at them about their "lifestyle choices" and then point to you and say "Hey, you worked at Enron and you didn't do anything about that. Go fuck yourself, dad. You're a real winner, alright" and wonder why their kids or their friends or even their family doesn't respect them.
Basically, I'm accusing the majority of
Bull. Fucking. Shit.
Define fucking "underpaid". Most fucking IT people I know make > $10/hour, and they fucking bitch relentlessly about how they live paycheck to paycheck. Guess what, pal? At $10/hour, they're making MORE MONEY than a good majority of the citizens in this country. NO FUCKING SHIT. I used to be there, making minimum wage, living in a shit-hole, eating ramen and rice. But you know what? If it came to that or being a fucking coward because my Employer was an unethical piece of shit and I knew it, I'll be back to ramen. YOU choose your lifestyle. When you realize that a stupid movie called "Fight Club" was right on several points (you are not what you own, you are not your string-bean couch, you are not what's in y our wallet) and learn to live on LESS (and you'll find you appreciate those things even more), then you don't have to worry about living "paycheck to paycheck" because you've reduced your living expenses considerably. Do you really need that $400 SUV out in the driveway? Do you really need that 1600 sq ft house with the 1 acre yard? No, you don't.
Imagine this stupid scenario: You find out your company is doing business selling 12 year old little boys and girls into the sex trade. You need your paycheck. Are you such a fucking coward that you'll stay, just so you can keep earning a paycheck? What's that? You don't care? Fuck you. You're a fucking coward.
Wake up America.
Hunters. Get hunters to stand below the turbines and SHOOT the birds before they can be chopped to pieces.
Oh wait, we're saving the BIRDS not the TURBINES.. damn damn damn!
Gene1 (Merv): Hey bob..
Gene2 (Bob) : Hey Merv..
Merv: man, I was thinking.. this here carp we're in just sucks. Just swimming around, doing nothing all day long, man.. we gotta get outta here..
Bob: Man, I feel ya, but how?
Merv: See, I figure, if we jump just right, we can actually jump out of this here carp and, I dunno, inject ourselves into those plants on the shoreline..
Damn skippy. I've been looking for a portable MP3* player recently, as I will soon have a job that requires frequent travel. However, $399 was/still is a bit steep. The ability to use it as a portable firewire HD is nifty, but useless for my usage. Anyway, $100, 800 songs, that's definately a keeper. I may have that in my change can. :)
No, you silly man. It is NOT BSD that's dying. It's Santa Claus. Every year, millions of children around the Western world are discovering Santa Claus isn't real. :: sigh :: I don't have the energy to try and finish this one.. Anyone?
I second this. I have had Timbuk2 "commuter" bag (slightly different from the standard messenger bag) for over 4 years with no problems. I've found that it is the perfect "size" for carrying 6 O'Reilly-sized tomes (PowerTools size), plus notebook, graphing calc, drafting pencils, etc etc, not to mention a Sony Vaio 505FX in the *outer* pocket. Granted, with that load you end up cutting the circulation to your head if you try to ride with it slung cross-body, but that's another story altogether.
:)
I *heart* my timbuk2: Lots of storage capacity, incredible durability, heavy ABS buckles and connectors, great stitching, etc etc. And you can pick them up on eBay for considerably less than the website!
/* I had a harder time believing that Tom Cruise's character could take out four or five samurai before even getting any samurai training.... not to mention he somehow managed to hold them off with a flagpole of all things... */
:P
Why not believable? Do you believe that somehow, if you are Japanese and a samurai that you are invincible and superior to every other person in the world? Why? Just because you train in an art does not make you immediately "better" in the areas of combat. In fact, it might be said that regimented training, if enacted as dogma, could be detrimental to training. See the plethora of McDojo's around America: kids learning strictly katas and going through motions who think they're somehow transferred into "bad ass" status get their asses handed to them by hardened kids who learned how to fight on the street. There are great fighters/warriors all over the world and not all of them were formally trained. Also, just because you train every day doesn't mean you're a master. There were samurai who sucked.
Well, let's be honest a bit. She was 81 years old. However, like everyone else in the civilized world, everyone else recognizes that an automobile is NOT a preferred food consumption platform, moving or not.
I agree, don't put fucking hot coffee in your crotch if you don't want to get burned.
You are correct, my mistake in the moving car. However, she was wearing sweatpants (tights) that held the liquid against her skin and refused to remove them or attempt to negate the heating action against her skin.
McD's hot coffee rationale was that you're commuting to work, you shouldn't be trying to drink/eat and drive, and by the time you get to work, the coffee is still nice and hot. That's what you get when you try to do other stuff when trying to drive.
I've bought/drank McD's coffee pre-lawsuit and didn't have much of an issue (but then again, further research shows that it may have been a regional issue in New Mexico restaurants).
So.. 700 "cases".. out of how many cups served from 1982-1992? Billions, I'd gather. You are statistically more likely to get hit by lightening, run over by an Amtrak, or contract some sort of VD. So, you're saying that McDonald's should *change* something that obviously millions of other customers had no problem with on a daily basis just to satisfy the 700 fucking morons who don't understand "boiling water is hot"?
Let's also look at the situation:
Woman pours (accidentally) scalding water/coffee into her lap while traveling in a car pool (a moving car is not conducive for keeping liquids in a stable state). She removed the top to add her cream and sugar, rather than waiting for the car to stop, thus increasing the potential for spillage. She was wearing fleece tights, which absorbed the material and held the liquid close to her skin. When asked if she needed to stop and remove her tights or try to dry them out, she refused and allowed the car pool to continue, meanwhile the still hot liquid COOKS her skin. So, her failure to ACT after her accident also contributed to the problem and her subsequent injury.
700 people out of billions served got "burned". Think about that.