However, I'd posit, that there really isn't anything that can match the large movement of air, like a large speaker (horn loaded is my pref) for good sound.

The best pair of headphones just can't beat this IMHO.

Other than that , I really like the points you made!!

Well, if you can afford it, maybe convert that gas tank to a lead acid battery. If for no other reason, you don't want to get a fine for outputting too much smog.

Not a problem.

Old cars are grandfathered in for pollution levels.

That and I live in a state where they don't do any "sniff" tests on inspections. Hell, not all states even require inspections at all.

A pair of desktop speakers, by LabTec, isn't going to sound nearly so good as my Klipschorn Speakers that I have in my living room. I have them connected to a pair of SE Tube amps from a small online company Decware. I've had them quite awhile and I love the sound of them. To each his own, I like the tube distortion, but I have ever since I was 12yrs and heard a pair of K-horns in an audio store running off a McIntosh tube amp system.

But I digress. The thing is...those cheap earbuds on an iPod aren't going to sound as nice as my Shure higher end earbuds.....at some point, you do get what you pay for. But one always has to be wary of what's being offered, and do their research, and test things in person.

That all being said, there are some fun DIY things you can do. I found lots of links years back, on taking multiple strands of Cat-6 cable, and braiding it in various fashions into speaker cable. I did my own variant, and I have to say, I liked the way it sounded...in fact, I still have it on my main front speakers (the khorns).

So, if you do enjoy GOOD fidelity in your audio, often you do have to pay a bit, but not always.

Sadly, so many kids today seem to see their music as disposable, and many have never HEARD what a good sound system can sound like...and only know white, cheap earbuds...or worse...the thudding of "Beats" headphones, that so far I've yet to find a tweeter installed.

But that's a different soapbox to get on altogether.

Checking this out....

Lord, I'm really about to start upping my efforts to buy a restored 70's muscle car. No excess computers, nothing connecting to anything, basically a nice beefy engine, a drivetrain, possibly no catalytic converter (depends on the year)...simple and fun to drive.

Ok, I will update the suspension, and swap out the 8-track for a bit more modern stereo, but seriously, I would rather have a simpler car that just MOVES and is fun. I don't need it to be a connected device that likely transmits far too much information about me and my driving habits for my comfort, and is a target for hackers.

What customers are actually ASKING for all this shit in cars today? Seriously?

TVs do a lot of processing to stop the low quality broadcast image looking shite. It's better to just buy a TV and not connect it to your network. As a bonus it will probably still have a tuner and analogue inputs, unlike a computer monitor. Most computer monitors, even the ones with VGA, don't support sub 31KHz video like older games consoles and DVD players.

That reminds me, not long back I picked up an old Atari unit (1600?)...to play the old game Kaboom!.

I"ve tried playing it on my Samsung 59" plasma and it just does NOT want to play on there, torn image, etc.

Anyone know how to get the old Atari units to play on a modern flat screen TV?

If people were willing to accept their ride stopping to run a few errands along they way ... they'd take the damned bus.

Well, except for the fact also, that most folks likely wouldn't want to be riding next to the smelly, disheveled wino or other low lifes that usually seem to inhabit busses.

That and public transportation not being really "door to door" for destination travels, which down here in Summer during the high heat/humidity is important, or during the heavy rain times.

I have a celI rarely use text, so paying $15 for a chunk of texts I'll never use is stupid.

You might wanna look at your carrier's website. These days, text messaging come free with any plan I've ever seen, not an extra charge like in the old days.

Ugly is to the bone....

Beauty always fades away....

But UGLY holds its own!!!

You've managed to stop GMail from pestering you to sign up for two factor authentication? How did you manage that? I can't seem to get it to stop (without actually signing up for it, which I'm not willing to do.)

I don't believe they every have asked me about it, hence I'd never heard of it.

My account is quite OLD...maybe that's it. I didn't give them any identifiable info when I set it up, I've never done G+...so, maybe I'm flying under the cloud as much as possible with Google.

I'd certainly not want to give them my phone number if that's what they use for the 2nd factor.

I've never seen anything but user/pass needed to create or access a gmail account?

Have you not been paying attention? The 'real names' thing was invented here. Except it was started by the private sector, not government.

Err...I've not been forced to give my real name to any website that I felt worthy of my joining to.

Some have asked, and I just don't give them my business.