While what you're talking about is indeed badge engineering, it's not quite the same as rebadging along the lines of 9-2x.

9-2x was an off the shelf Impreza with some new bits and bobs. Same with the Saab 9-7 and GMC Envoy.

The Saab 9000, Fiat Chroma, Lancia Thema and the Alfa Romeo 164 were jointly developed. Same with the 600 and Lancia Delta.

During joint development, Saab acutally had a say in the design of the vehicle, while with rebadging it's merely a matter of styling, and a severely limited one at that.

I'm sorry, but calling them generic eurocars is, even mechanically, quite off its mark.

At best, a good case for compiling PHP code. I'm not sure the assumptions are sound at all: 10:1 ration? PHP code is dominant code executed? I'd bet most of execution is in database, and that is surely executing compiled C/C++.

> But if we do run out of oil here, we'll have to get the raw materials to
> make plastics from somewhere. Titan seems as good a choice for that purpose
> as any.

Much cheaper to simply use water, air, and any handy source of carbon.

The CPU is not the power hungry monster in a netbook, its the screen. Fix THAT problem before diddling with new CPU architectures.

There are two situations with chronic health problems - one where a person has been on a health insurance plan and paying it, and one where they haven't.

In the first case, their payments to the insurer were the expected value of their health, essentially - if they had a 1% chance of getting cancer that cost $100,000 to treat, they would be paying roughly $1,000 for the insurance - simplified of course, but it's the basic premise. So when they happen to be in the 1%, it doesn't matter, because that's what they paid for, and yes, it fits the insurance model.

When someone hasn't had insurance and has a chronic condition, though, it's more like asking someone to insurance a house that has already been washed away by a flood, and is built three feet from the water. There is a 100% chance that the insurer will have to pay more than they take in from the customer. If the insurer is forced to take these people in, the affected person must be subsidized by the rest of the insured. They are not paying the expected value of the cost of their care, because the probability is such that they *cannot* pay the expected value of their care. This is no longer insurance, it is charity. The closest working model that still looks like insurance would be, essentially, "insurance insurance" that everyone has to start buying to pay for the ability to continue buying insurance after you would stop being eligible for it. But again, that doesn't work for the people who haven't been paying that fee to begin with.

My point being, trying to buy insurance *after* you get an expensive disease is the same as buying car insurance after you crash, house insurance after it burns down, or life insurance after you die. Insurance is about balancing possible future payments, not certain ones.

Screw netbooks. When can I buy a proper PDA again? Something about the size of a stack of 3x5 cards with nice, high-res touchscreen, maybe one of those trendy slideout keyboards, Wifi, Bluetooth, decent amount of storage, and a memory card slot? That can run an actual web browser and other arbitrary apps? And with battery life that doesn't totally suck, and that's not a freaking phone tied to a contract and service agreement and which will refuse to work without a valid SIM card?

Maybe something that can run SSH and remote desktop, run a REAL web browser (not Pocket Internet Explorer, like current WinMo handhelds/phones), play a couple of games, play back video, network tasks, etc.? My old Axim does all of the above except the web browser part; Apparently nobody is interesting in making a mobile web browser that doesn't run on a damn phone. I don't need a damn phone-tied-to-PDA. I already have a phone.

Let me guess: You're having an impossible time finding that guy with fifteen years programing experience, with five years experience on that niche program your company uses, a Master's degree in Computer Science, who needs no assistance relocating, willing to work 60+ hours a week, for $70,000/yr + crappy benefits?

There's TONS of talent out there right now. Get your H.R. person out of the resume-screening job and be a little flexible with candidates and you'll find them.

The Canadians and French are the worst border guards I've encountered. Israeli, Dutch and Americans were the easiest.

Italy, natch. Hard to beat until I tried the new Romana crust in Milano's on Dawson St last week.

I'd have a talking-to with the sysadmin in charge. He apparently doesn't know how to run things up the pole, which is a crucial qualification for a sysadmin. As someone else said - get in touch with your sales rep, he knows what to do.

I have never had these kinds of problems with IBM.

People seem to forget the context of that "undermining the peer review process" took place.

They certainly tried to impact the peer review process. The paper in question resulted in half of the editorial board of the journal in question resigning over the peer review process that took place.

http://www.sgr.org.uk/climate/StormyTimes_NL28.htm

The paper in question turned out to be underwritten by the American Petroleum Institute.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1946082-2,00.html#ixzz0ZJERceR1

Unless archive.org has a facebook account that friended me, there is no way for it to get info of mine that was never exposed. Same with google cache. Most of the internet is still unindexed, contrary to popular belief. Anything behind a login is generally not indexed by bots.

they also want the right to vote, collect welfare and social security, hold a job, get married, buy cars and houses, run for public office...

Unless they're gay monkeys. That's just going too far.

For some reason, this statement is controversial because people mistakenly think that capitalism does not require regulation. in the US, regulation is characterized as either totally evil, or the savior of humanity.

The theory of capitalism is that the perfect consumer will pick the product that maximizes utility. Thus, they select the best producers. The problem is that consumers are not perfect, and even if they are, they need perfect knowledge to make good decisions.

To facilitate perfect knowledge requires accurate labeling, truth in advertising, etc. Suppose you have one product that is super tasty, but poisonous and another one that is mildly tasty but nutritious. The second one maximizes utility, but the consumer may not know that without proper labeling. If the first one is advertised as being totally health then the whole system falls apart.

In summary, regulation is necessary in Capitalism.

It can't.
It's not possible to recharge in its current form, and will be comparatively expensive.
Even neglecting that - and the poor discharge rate - it can probably only be discharged at a slow rate due to the design - it is a better hearing aid battery that might last - say - 20 days instead of 10, and be a bit less toxic.

You _could_ put it into your car - but it would require a truly massive battery.