There are lots of choices out there. As a matter of fact, it seems that in the past few years, the entry-level cars have been getting larger, heavier, more powerful, but thirstier. Your best bet is to look at late 80's to early 90's cars like the Civic, CRX, Sentra, 200SX, Corolla, Metro, Prism, Storm, Fox, Swift, and Fiesta to name a few off the top of my head. Many of those cars will get 30-40MPG stock, which is getting tough to get nowadays without springing for the hybrids. Of course, you do have to make sure the car is still in decent running condition. Bad tires, fouled spark plugs, and stuff like that will destroy your mileage.
They went down when the sticker shock from gas prices was still in effect. Now that people are used to $2.999 being the new $1.249, sales seem to be back up in my area. Also, don't forget the status symbol part of it too, the more expensive it is to own that SUV, the more desirable it is as a status symbol.
The Darwin Awards are for people that remove themselves from the gene pool in obviously stupid ways. Given that lead poisoning isn't exactly obvious without an understanding of modern chemistry[*], I would cut the Romans some slack here.
There is a big difference between living in an area where you might have a natural disaster destroy your home, versus living in an area where a natural disaster destroying your home is inevitable.
By this, I assume you mean "don't run any third party software not written by Microsoft".
Because the minute you do, the Windows Registry is no longer reliable (if it even is with Windows itself, which is questionable in itself), and eventually either Windows, the third party software, or a combo of the two will hose the Registry, thus bringing Windows to its knees.
I don't know HOW many times that has happened to people I've worked with.
I remember those problems, I ran into it constantly... when running Windows 95 and 98. Not saying that the registry doesn't get hosed on 2000/XP, but I would say it's pretty rare, especially since you can do a System Restore in XP and fix it should it actually happen to you. Registry cruft is still a big problem, but that'll just slow things down, not render the system unstable. I've seen systems, including some of my own, with an incredible number of third party applications - including multiple versions of the same application, and are still perfectly stable.
Which lets the Microsoft firewall out. Use a third-party firewall that blocks outbound and inbound connections, and allows greater freedom of configuration - ooops, you just run into problem number one.
The Windows firewall is fine for blocking incoming connections, which is what is most important when it comes to protecting you against worms. The blocking outbound firewall is nice to have and comes recommended, but I realize it's more for power users.
That's only a problem once something has compromised your machine by getting on it in the first place. Good advice, yes, but late to the party.
Or you run services/servers on the network. Being that nearly every major Linux distro seems to like to install SSH and turn it on by default, I wouldn't run with a weak password on Linux either. Of course, Windows is no better with things like the administrator shares.
For the other threats, install an AV - ooops, just ran into problem number one again - especially with Norton and McAfee, but others can do it too.
Yeah, I agree with you on Symantic Anti-virus, that one *will* hose your system. I suggest something like AVG instead.
Aren't electric motors amazing? They tell me they're going to run cars some day =)
On the topic of electric motors, I wonder if they could use them as generators when lowering the car back down, therefore recovering the a portion of the energy used to lift the car? If that's the case, this garage could actually be greener than a typical ramp where you burn fuel to go up, and don't recover any of that energy coming back down (some hybrids and electrics excepted).
Actually, I suspect that many regulars do like the endless repetition of "in Soviet Russia" and "our x overlords". You and I get tired of hearing the same jokes over and over, but we might well be in the minority.
You just haven't heard them enough. It was funny the first time. It wasn't funny the 10th time. It's funny the 500th time... but for totally different reasons.
Of course the iMac is different from the Dell or whatever, that's obvious. You're assuming that people actually care about a lot of these differences. I don't see this, people buy the iMac because it's an Apple machine, not because it's an all-in-one form-factor. Since these people don't care about having an all-in-one (and many consider it a downside), a comparison of the iMac and a tower is perfectly valid. Sure, comparing as-indentical-as-possible machines can be interesting, but it's like those benchmarks that compare the $100 3.0Ghz dual core AMD chip to the $500 3.0Ghz dual core Intel chip - they don't reflect reality in the sense of what people actually buy.
And yes, I know about the Mac Pro. Most people don't consider that in their options for a home computer, as it is simply too high end and expensive.
They already do that in some places. In Minnesota, atleast where I live, sales tax applies to junk food such as Doritos, candy bars, and pop. However, there is no sales tax on things like most fruits and vegetables, milk, and stables like rich and flour.
When most everyone is who is looking to buy a new computer and is debating the Mac vs. the PC thing, they generally are looking at the cheapest option ("best value") on both sides. For the PC, it's going to be some kind of tower/desktop. Sure, the iMac is not the same thing, but the comparison in is made because it's all that's available. Hence the reason why people want the desktop iMac (or whatever you want to call it).
I would go as far as saying that a lot of Mac users don't want the iMac either. Hence one of the reasons why the desktop iMac won't happen - it would totally gut sales of the all-in-one iMac.
Apple understands that quality has a price. Really, the iMac is very competitively priced. There are very few comparable systems and they are all in the same price range (and no, comparing the iMac with a desktop or mini tower doesn't count).
Well, there is a reason why those "comparable" all-in-one PC systems sell poorly - they aren't competitive with the PC desktop/towers either. Once you expand out your options like the typical buyer will, the iMac starts becoming more and more expensive.
Seriously speaking though, I'd hate to see a Mac built to sell for $500 (monitor included). Nice, machined aluminum chassis? Nope, say hello to cheap flimsy plastic.
You mean like what iMacs were made of before the current generation?
Slot-loading drive? Nope, say hello to a behemoth 5.25" tray.
Not to mention that Apple doesn't seem to learn their lesson either. The MacBook still comes with a power adaptor that offers pretty much no strain relief on the cord whatsoever. Quite possibly the most poorly designed power adaptor on any laptop you can buy today.
Hey, it's true though. Can you imagine how different the press would be if it was Apple and not Microsoft that came up with the "ribbon" interface present in Office 2007?
As opposed to the Dock, which never works that way? It's pretty obvious to me why the Dock seems to be a Mac-only thing. Even Gnome, which seems to like to copy the Mac's look and feel, implements the task bar.
Generally speaking though, running out of space isn't a problem most of the time, thanks to applications that use a tabbed/MDI interface.
In that case, just get regular tower PC. The kind that uses no desk space because you can put it on the floor.
Actually, the best thing I have found to increase desk space is to get a "happy hacker" or similar keyboard layout. The traditional 101 key keyboard is bulky, and most people (home users) don't make much use out of the numeric keypad anyway.
Actually, the biggest selling point for Windows for the longest time was that you open up multiple MS-DOS shells and run multiple DOS programs at once. It wasn't until Windows 3.1 when I started seeing people running Windows to actually run Windows applications (not counting included apps like Paint).
I had someone call one a "USB zip drive" which caused some confusion for me, as I thought they were talking about the USB version of some tech that died off a while back.
Also, when I was at college, a lot of people called them "jump drives", probably because the Lexar brand was common on campus for some reason.
Basically the scalpers have a lot more resources than the common sports fan. All of the tickets go to the first, or the first few in the line who buy them all up in a matter of a few minutes. Imagine something like an iPhone or PS3 launch without the one-per-person restriction.
I'm doubtful that would happen. Why would humans need to evolve anyway? Typically, an organism evolves to adapt to a changing environment (ignoring the occasional random, beneficial mutation). However, we are at the point where we change our environment to suit us.
There are lots of choices out there. As a matter of fact, it seems that in the past few years, the entry-level cars have been getting larger, heavier, more powerful, but thirstier. Your best bet is to look at late 80's to early 90's cars like the Civic, CRX, Sentra, 200SX, Corolla, Metro, Prism, Storm, Fox, Swift, and Fiesta to name a few off the top of my head. Many of those cars will get 30-40MPG stock, which is getting tough to get nowadays without springing for the hybrids. Of course, you do have to make sure the car is still in decent running condition. Bad tires, fouled spark plugs, and stuff like that will destroy your mileage.
They went down when the sticker shock from gas prices was still in effect. Now that people are used to $2.999 being the new $1.249, sales seem to be back up in my area. Also, don't forget the status symbol part of it too, the more expensive it is to own that SUV, the more desirable it is as a status symbol.
Apple marketing may be good, but it doesn't have supernatural powers.
Wait, you're telling me that the Reality Distortion Field(tm) is not real?
Hence the reason I would ban any IP that attempted, even once, to log in as root. It's not enabled, so any attempt to log in as root is bogus.
The Darwin Awards are for people that remove themselves from the gene pool in obviously stupid ways. Given that lead poisoning isn't exactly obvious without an understanding of modern chemistry[*], I would cut the Romans some slack here.
There is a big difference between living in an area where you might have a natural disaster destroy your home, versus living in an area where a natural disaster destroying your home is inevitable.
By this, I assume you mean "don't run any third party software not written by Microsoft".
Because the minute you do, the Windows Registry is no longer reliable (if it even is with Windows itself, which is questionable in itself), and eventually either Windows, the third party software, or a combo of the two will hose the Registry, thus bringing Windows to its knees.
I don't know HOW many times that has happened to people I've worked with.
I remember those problems, I ran into it constantly... when running Windows 95 and 98. Not saying that the registry doesn't get hosed on 2000/XP, but I would say it's pretty rare, especially since you can do a System Restore in XP and fix it should it actually happen to you. Registry cruft is still a big problem, but that'll just slow things down, not render the system unstable. I've seen systems, including some of my own, with an incredible number of third party applications - including multiple versions of the same application, and are still perfectly stable.
Which lets the Microsoft firewall out. Use a third-party firewall that blocks outbound and inbound connections, and allows greater freedom of configuration - ooops, you just run into problem number one.
The Windows firewall is fine for blocking incoming connections, which is what is most important when it comes to protecting you against worms. The blocking outbound firewall is nice to have and comes recommended, but I realize it's more for power users.
That's only a problem once something has compromised your machine by getting on it in the first place. Good advice, yes, but late to the party.
Or you run services/servers on the network. Being that nearly every major Linux distro seems to like to install SSH and turn it on by default, I wouldn't run with a weak password on Linux either. Of course, Windows is no better with things like the administrator shares.
For the other threats, install an AV - ooops, just ran into problem number one again - especially with Norton and McAfee, but others can do it too.
Yeah, I agree with you on Symantic Anti-virus, that one *will* hose your system. I suggest something like AVG instead.
Aren't electric motors amazing? They tell me they're going to run cars some day =)
On the topic of electric motors, I wonder if they could use them as generators when lowering the car back down, therefore recovering the a portion of the energy used to lift the car? If that's the case, this garage could actually be greener than a typical ramp where you burn fuel to go up, and don't recover any of that energy coming back down (some hybrids and electrics excepted).
Actually, I suspect that many regulars do like the endless repetition of "in Soviet Russia" and "our x overlords". You and I get tired of hearing the same jokes over and over, but we might well be in the minority.
You just haven't heard them enough. It was funny the first time. It wasn't funny the 10th time. It's funny the 500th time... but for totally different reasons.
Of course the iMac is different from the Dell or whatever, that's obvious. You're assuming that people actually care about a lot of these differences. I don't see this, people buy the iMac because it's an Apple machine, not because it's an all-in-one form-factor. Since these people don't care about having an all-in-one (and many consider it a downside), a comparison of the iMac and a tower is perfectly valid. Sure, comparing as-indentical-as-possible machines can be interesting, but it's like those benchmarks that compare the $100 3.0Ghz dual core AMD chip to the $500 3.0Ghz dual core Intel chip - they don't reflect reality in the sense of what people actually buy.
And yes, I know about the Mac Pro. Most people don't consider that in their options for a home computer, as it is simply too high end and expensive.
If I had to guess, April 1st, 2008 would be the day that shows up.
They already do that in some places. In Minnesota, atleast where I live, sales tax applies to junk food such as Doritos, candy bars, and pop. However, there is no sales tax on things like most fruits and vegetables, milk, and stables like rich and flour.
When most everyone is who is looking to buy a new computer and is debating the Mac vs. the PC thing, they generally are looking at the cheapest option ("best value") on both sides. For the PC, it's going to be some kind of tower/desktop. Sure, the iMac is not the same thing, but the comparison in is made because it's all that's available. Hence the reason why people want the desktop iMac (or whatever you want to call it).
I would go as far as saying that a lot of Mac users don't want the iMac either. Hence one of the reasons why the desktop iMac won't happen - it would totally gut sales of the all-in-one iMac.
Keep in mind that 3100 miles is a lot further than the rovers have traveled :)
Apple understands that quality has a price. Really, the iMac is very competitively priced. There are very few comparable systems and they are all in the same price range (and no, comparing the iMac with a desktop or mini tower doesn't count).
Well, there is a reason why those "comparable" all-in-one PC systems sell poorly - they aren't competitive with the PC desktop/towers either. Once you expand out your options like the typical buyer will, the iMac starts becoming more and more expensive.
Seriously speaking though, I'd hate to see a Mac built to sell for $500 (monitor included). Nice, machined aluminum chassis? Nope, say hello to cheap flimsy plastic.
You mean like what iMacs were made of before the current generation?
Slot-loading drive? Nope, say hello to a behemoth 5.25" tray.
You mean the same ones as seen in the Mac Pro?
From way back in the day of the Performa, MAC stands Might Awful Computer.
Not to mention that Apple doesn't seem to learn their lesson either. The MacBook still comes with a power adaptor that offers pretty much no strain relief on the cord whatsoever. Quite possibly the most poorly designed power adaptor on any laptop you can buy today.
Hey, it's true though. Can you imagine how different the press would be if it was Apple and not Microsoft that came up with the "ribbon" interface present in Office 2007?
Not when you run out of space.
As opposed to the Dock, which never works that way? It's pretty obvious to me why the Dock seems to be a Mac-only thing. Even Gnome, which seems to like to copy the Mac's look and feel, implements the task bar.
Generally speaking though, running out of space isn't a problem most of the time, thanks to applications that use a tabbed/MDI interface.
In that case, just get regular tower PC. The kind that uses no desk space because you can put it on the floor.
Actually, the best thing I have found to increase desk space is to get a "happy hacker" or similar keyboard layout. The traditional 101 key keyboard is bulky, and most people (home users) don't make much use out of the numeric keypad anyway.
Actually, the biggest selling point for Windows for the longest time was that you open up multiple MS-DOS shells and run multiple DOS programs at once. It wasn't until Windows 3.1 when I started seeing people running Windows to actually run Windows applications (not counting included apps like Paint).
I had someone call one a "USB zip drive" which caused some confusion for me, as I thought they were talking about the USB version of some tech that died off a while back.
Also, when I was at college, a lot of people called them "jump drives", probably because the Lexar brand was common on campus for some reason.
Basically the scalpers have a lot more resources than the common sports fan. All of the tickets go to the first, or the first few in the line who buy them all up in a matter of a few minutes. Imagine something like an iPhone or PS3 launch without the one-per-person restriction.
I'm doubtful that would happen. Why would humans need to evolve anyway? Typically, an organism evolves to adapt to a changing environment (ignoring the occasional random, beneficial mutation). However, we are at the point where we change our environment to suit us.