One of the ways they manage to get the interest rate to be so low is that they effectively mark up the price of the car for those that finance it. Well technically, it's a cash discount, but it's the same thing. All those car ads stating "1.9% financing or $3500 cash back!". Yeah, the people who walk in and plonked down cash for the car got it for $3500 less than the amount you're financing*.
*May not apply in all situations. Please check the terms of the financing agreement. Not available in all areas. Must take delivery from dealer's stock. Blabblahblabbla.
You need to learn Microsoft's various levels of support so you aren't talking out of your ass. Extended support is what comes after mainstream support. Mainstream support is when the OS gets new features, functionality, and new versions of packaged software like IE and WMP via Windows Update. When the product goes into extended support, you only get security patches and bug fixes, but nothing new. Extended support is still free for anyone with a valid license. Extended support is what just ended for XP, five years after mainstream support ended in April 2009. Vista is in extended support for another 3 years. Windows 7 is still in mainstream support until the start of next year after which it goes into extended support until sometime in 2020. After ended support comes the custom paid support where you can still get security patches and bug fixes for a price. I don't know how long Microsoft will keep that up, but my guess is that if you have deep enough pockets Microsoft will support you for a long time.
I guess the whole point of this discussion is that Microsoft still has versions of Windows with IE6 & 7 in extended support for another couple of years. Considering that IE6 came out in 2001 and installs as far back as Windows 98 that's an incredibly long time for a web browser.
The problem with that is exponential growth. Eventually a civilization that continuously growing (much like ours) will use up any available space. Even if you assume a very conservative growth rate (less than 1%) a growing civilization will end up colonizing the entire galaxy given a few million years. And the galaxy is billions of years old. Of course, this assumes that any other civilization will spread like a weed (or a virus) and not just be content to expand to a certain point and then stop spreading.
Well, if they overuse the concept, it could get old, but on the other hand it could be fun to smash a virtual door in occasionally. On the other hand, it could also work as part of a game dynamic - do I shoot out the lock, using up ammo and possibly alerting the enemies to my presence, or do I try to get the door open another way, or even bypass it entirely?
Yeah, no kidding. The key concept is layers. You don't have to have very warm clothing if you have enough of it. Several pairs of pants and shirts/jackets and your core temperature will be fine. Having them be a bit baggy and loose fitting is better since air makes a pretty good insulator. If you have something that's bulky (like snowpants or a down jacket) make that the outermost later. You'll also have the bonus that you won't have to pack your luggage since you'll be wearing it. Extremities can be a problem. Since you won't have to move much I would just tuck your arms inside your clothing to keep them warm. Feet might be a problem even with several pairs of socks if you don't otherwise have warm footwear, so you might want to bring a blanket to wrap your feet with. Exposed skin will get frost bite so make sure you've got everything covered, especially if there is air movement in the wheel well (I don't know how well sealed they are and if that would be a concern or not). Don't forget to cover your face and head with blankets and scarves. A cheap pair of googles may not be a bad idea either.
All airports have tons of crap for sale in the terminal, ranging from sit in restaurants, to fast food, to souveniers after you've gotten past security.
Well, one except to that rule was Kansas City, where the terminals were a series of three partial rings with vehicle access in the middle. Was one of my favorite airports. You could literally get out of your car, go through security, through the terminal, and get on the plane while only having to walk a couple hundred feet total. Of course, the TSA hated it since there were many small checkpoints and they couldn't funnel everyone through a few central checkpoints. And of course, little room for retail stores and overpriced concessions. I've heard they are going to start tearing down the rings and building a more standard airport in its place. A shame really.
About the only way I could see that happening is would be if the EMP blast managed to start massive fires in urban areas that could not be fought effectively due to the grid being down. Even so, most fire-fighting equipment is diesel powered and unlikely to be affected, but if the EMP blast knocks out the municipal water supply things could get interesting.
I'm in the midwest, and I find the well water pumped out of the aquifers tastes great. I'd rather have water straight out of the tap than most bottled waters, which always seem to taste like the bottle it came in. You're right about the mineral content though - it's hell on water heaters and it can make keeping a clean-looking shower a bit more challenging.
Cost of electricity? Seriously? Around here, electricity is about 12 cents/kwh. Granted, electric stovetops and ovens are power hogs, but you're looking at something like 10-25 cents/hour to operate them. It's not going to be a big cost compared to the food itself.
Probably an iBook. 2001 would (probably) make it one of "toilet-seat" models. Haven't seen one of those for a very long time. I think people were embarrassed to be seen with them and quickly replaced them with something that wasn't so garish.
I've got a Canon TX that's still in good working order, except that I can't get batteries anymore for the built-in light meter (it requires a mercury cell that's long out of production for obvious reasons). And unlike the 1Ds, the TX was the low-end budget model of day, lacking a 1/1000s shutter speed and the self-timer. Still, not bad for nearly 40 years old.
You can replace the battery. You'll need a special screwdriver, and in some cases you may need to solder in the replacement. Though I find it amazing that nearly all of my SNES carts still retain their save data. The oldest ones are well over 20 years old!
I would assume that once you're up you would turn the lights back off for them. It's not like the audible alarm clock won't wake them up either. Though with the lights you could get some spot lights and aim them at your side of the bed in attempt to make it less disturbing.
Guess it depends on what part of the world you're in. In America, in the early 70's Subaru was still experimenting with importing micro-cars such as the Subaru 360, something that didn't work out particularly well for Subaru. For that matter, I don't remember them lasting very long on American roads.
Well, Hyundai has come a long way. On the other hand, compare a mid-90's Toyota Camry to a new one. The new one may have a lot more gadgets and features, but the 90's Camry is a much more solid, better built car whereas the new ones are basically what's left after 15 years of decontenting and cost cutting.
There are third-party aftermarket cartridges out there for a lot of the older HP lasers. I get them from Monoprice. Very reasonably priced and I haven't had any problems with them.
I've heard someone say that some of the first water mains put in back around 1900 were designed to last 100 years or more. The ones put in before WW2 were designed to last about 75 years. The ones put in during the boom in the 50's and 60's were designed to last 50 years. And the more recent ones starting from 70's are designed to last 30 years. Which means that today we've got something like 80-90 years worth of water mains which are all about at the end of the design lifetime. Something to think about.
I've got one of the slightly newer Sony "Dream Machines" that uses the backlit LCD. I use it for a clock in the office, as the radio part barely works anymore. The daylight savings time button on it, however, is pretty innovative and I've always wondered why no one else has copied it. Push it in the spring to advance the clock by and hour, and push it again in the fall to set it back an hour. Simple and elegant.
My alarm clock in the bedroom is a GE clock radio from sometime in the early 90's with the red LED display, fake woodgrain, and 9V backup. Still going strong.
I would expect "worker bee" machines to go SSD at some point, probably soon. The reason is hard drives are not going to get cheaper, as it costs a certain amount to build such a complex mechanical device, which seems to have set a price floor of about $50 no matter the capacity. SSDs do not have this limitation, so as soon as you can get a "good enough" SSD for less than $50 I would expect SSDs to replace hard drives in "worker bee" machines. My guess is about 80GB should be good enough for OS + applications + scratch files.
Filling up a hard drive isn't as bad as filling up an SSD. Once you get to the point where the wear leveling mechanisms can't do their job without having to move lots of data around, write performance takes a huge hit.
If you're young and steadily put money into a retirement account, being a millionaire by the time you retire is certainly very possible. Of course, by then a meal at McDonald's will cost $30, a gallon of milk $15, and a new car will top $100k.
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One of the ways they manage to get the interest rate to be so low is that they effectively mark up the price of the car for those that finance it. Well technically, it's a cash discount, but it's the same thing. All those car ads stating "1.9% financing or $3500 cash back!". Yeah, the people who walk in and plonked down cash for the car got it for $3500 less than the amount you're financing*.
*May not apply in all situations. Please check the terms of the financing agreement. Not available in all areas. Must take delivery from dealer's stock. Blabblahblabbla.
You need to learn Microsoft's various levels of support so you aren't talking out of your ass. Extended support is what comes after mainstream support. Mainstream support is when the OS gets new features, functionality, and new versions of packaged software like IE and WMP via Windows Update. When the product goes into extended support, you only get security patches and bug fixes, but nothing new. Extended support is still free for anyone with a valid license. Extended support is what just ended for XP, five years after mainstream support ended in April 2009. Vista is in extended support for another 3 years. Windows 7 is still in mainstream support until the start of next year after which it goes into extended support until sometime in 2020. After ended support comes the custom paid support where you can still get security patches and bug fixes for a price. I don't know how long Microsoft will keep that up, but my guess is that if you have deep enough pockets Microsoft will support you for a long time.
I guess the whole point of this discussion is that Microsoft still has versions of Windows with IE6 & 7 in extended support for another couple of years. Considering that IE6 came out in 2001 and installs as far back as Windows 98 that's an incredibly long time for a web browser.
The problem with that is exponential growth. Eventually a civilization that continuously growing (much like ours) will use up any available space. Even if you assume a very conservative growth rate (less than 1%) a growing civilization will end up colonizing the entire galaxy given a few million years. And the galaxy is billions of years old. Of course, this assumes that any other civilization will spread like a weed (or a virus) and not just be content to expand to a certain point and then stop spreading.
Well, if they overuse the concept, it could get old, but on the other hand it could be fun to smash a virtual door in occasionally. On the other hand, it could also work as part of a game dynamic - do I shoot out the lock, using up ammo and possibly alerting the enemies to my presence, or do I try to get the door open another way, or even bypass it entirely?
Yeah, no kidding. The key concept is layers. You don't have to have very warm clothing if you have enough of it. Several pairs of pants and shirts/jackets and your core temperature will be fine. Having them be a bit baggy and loose fitting is better since air makes a pretty good insulator. If you have something that's bulky (like snowpants or a down jacket) make that the outermost later. You'll also have the bonus that you won't have to pack your luggage since you'll be wearing it. Extremities can be a problem. Since you won't have to move much I would just tuck your arms inside your clothing to keep them warm. Feet might be a problem even with several pairs of socks if you don't otherwise have warm footwear, so you might want to bring a blanket to wrap your feet with. Exposed skin will get frost bite so make sure you've got everything covered, especially if there is air movement in the wheel well (I don't know how well sealed they are and if that would be a concern or not). Don't forget to cover your face and head with blankets and scarves. A cheap pair of googles may not be a bad idea either.
Yes, something like 25% of the time. I'd rather have the oxygen and warm clothing myself. Well, assuming I was to travel in a wheel well.
Well, one except to that rule was Kansas City, where the terminals were a series of three partial rings with vehicle access in the middle. Was one of my favorite airports. You could literally get out of your car, go through security, through the terminal, and get on the plane while only having to walk a couple hundred feet total. Of course, the TSA hated it since there were many small checkpoints and they couldn't funnel everyone through a few central checkpoints. And of course, little room for retail stores and overpriced concessions. I've heard they are going to start tearing down the rings and building a more standard airport in its place. A shame really.
About the only way I could see that happening is would be if the EMP blast managed to start massive fires in urban areas that could not be fought effectively due to the grid being down. Even so, most fire-fighting equipment is diesel powered and unlikely to be affected, but if the EMP blast knocks out the municipal water supply things could get interesting.
I'm in the midwest, and I find the well water pumped out of the aquifers tastes great. I'd rather have water straight out of the tap than most bottled waters, which always seem to taste like the bottle it came in. You're right about the mineral content though - it's hell on water heaters and it can make keeping a clean-looking shower a bit more challenging.
Cost of electricity? Seriously? Around here, electricity is about 12 cents/kwh. Granted, electric stovetops and ovens are power hogs, but you're looking at something like 10-25 cents/hour to operate them. It's not going to be a big cost compared to the food itself.
Probably an iBook. 2001 would (probably) make it one of "toilet-seat" models. Haven't seen one of those for a very long time. I think people were embarrassed to be seen with them and quickly replaced them with something that wasn't so garish.
I've got a Canon TX that's still in good working order, except that I can't get batteries anymore for the built-in light meter (it requires a mercury cell that's long out of production for obvious reasons). And unlike the 1Ds, the TX was the low-end budget model of day, lacking a 1/1000s shutter speed and the self-timer. Still, not bad for nearly 40 years old.
You can replace the battery. You'll need a special screwdriver, and in some cases you may need to solder in the replacement. Though I find it amazing that nearly all of my SNES carts still retain their save data. The oldest ones are well over 20 years old!
I would assume that once you're up you would turn the lights back off for them. It's not like the audible alarm clock won't wake them up either. Though with the lights you could get some spot lights and aim them at your side of the bed in attempt to make it less disturbing.
Guess it depends on what part of the world you're in. In America, in the early 70's Subaru was still experimenting with importing micro-cars such as the Subaru 360, something that didn't work out particularly well for Subaru. For that matter, I don't remember them lasting very long on American roads.
Well, Hyundai has come a long way. On the other hand, compare a mid-90's Toyota Camry to a new one. The new one may have a lot more gadgets and features, but the 90's Camry is a much more solid, better built car whereas the new ones are basically what's left after 15 years of decontenting and cost cutting.
There are third-party aftermarket cartridges out there for a lot of the older HP lasers. I get them from Monoprice. Very reasonably priced and I haven't had any problems with them.
I've heard someone say that some of the first water mains put in back around 1900 were designed to last 100 years or more. The ones put in before WW2 were designed to last about 75 years. The ones put in during the boom in the 50's and 60's were designed to last 50 years. And the more recent ones starting from 70's are designed to last 30 years. Which means that today we've got something like 80-90 years worth of water mains which are all about at the end of the design lifetime. Something to think about.
Probably playing Diablo. I wore a few mouse buttons out that way too.
I've got one of the slightly newer Sony "Dream Machines" that uses the backlit LCD. I use it for a clock in the office, as the radio part barely works anymore. The daylight savings time button on it, however, is pretty innovative and I've always wondered why no one else has copied it. Push it in the spring to advance the clock by and hour, and push it again in the fall to set it back an hour. Simple and elegant.
My alarm clock in the bedroom is a GE clock radio from sometime in the early 90's with the red LED display, fake woodgrain, and 9V backup. Still going strong.
I would expect "worker bee" machines to go SSD at some point, probably soon. The reason is hard drives are not going to get cheaper, as it costs a certain amount to build such a complex mechanical device, which seems to have set a price floor of about $50 no matter the capacity. SSDs do not have this limitation, so as soon as you can get a "good enough" SSD for less than $50 I would expect SSDs to replace hard drives in "worker bee" machines. My guess is about 80GB should be good enough for OS + applications + scratch files.
Filling up a hard drive isn't as bad as filling up an SSD. Once you get to the point where the wear leveling mechanisms can't do their job without having to move lots of data around, write performance takes a huge hit.
If you're young and steadily put money into a retirement account, being a millionaire by the time you retire is certainly very possible. Of course, by then a meal at McDonald's will cost $30, a gallon of milk $15, and a new car will top $100k.
You mean my savings account which earns 0.15% interest? I mean, the $0.74 I would earn that way would be totally worth it!
You can buy a 4K monitor today for $700. And it's not some Korean mystery brand either:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=210-ACHO
One thing that isn't obvious though is that it's a 30Hz monitor. All the 60Hz ones, as far as I can tell, are still in $1000+ territory.