OMG Ponies was the best /. prank ever! I kinda wish they made it a selectable option!

Hard to believe that shit was 9 years ago.. x.x

Let's see, what could possibly go wrong with entrusting the keeping of the nation's confidence to a CEO that pretty much steered HP right into the iceberg.

No. Just.. no. NO fucking way.

The only way I'd accept this is if she outsources Congress to a call center in India. They can't do any worse than the locals!

I'll miss the show as it exists now, and not just because of the cars and the trips and the stunts - I'll miss it because Top Gear UK isn't afraid to call a manufacturer out on a bad car. That's something the US version can't, and won't do -- because in the US, you don't badmouth the very people who give you money in exchange for advertising on your show / magazine.

It was good while it lasted, and it's remarkable it lasted this long.

in BOFH speak, from a couple of decades ago.

What is old is new again?

I did go to Lowes, and Target, and even the hated Walmart - none of them had what I was looking for, so yeah, Amazon had it.

For truly big-ticket items such as washers, dryers, etc - that I would buy at a local store. But vacuums, wine fridges, etc? Amazon. The local selection of those two items, for example, is thin to none. Each store carries the same crap bottom-end vaccums and dyson hi-end, nothing in between. Amazon had the in-between. Wine fridge? None locally. I called. I perused web pages. "Online only." So I did! Just not at that particular store's site.

The last two appliances I bought at local stores were a coffemaker and a toaster. Oh and some power tools from home depot.

It's telling that selection is narrower and inventory much lower than it was 10 years ago. The big-boxes are feeling pain.

Retail is dead anyway, but the brainless corpse hasn't quite gotten the message yet.

I miss the day of the independent hardware store, grocer, pharmacy, camera shop,hi-fi store, etc. The first wave of crushing those small businesses came in the 70's - 80's in the form of malls. Many independents went to the malls and survived. Those who refused, well -- I've seen entire city blocks of shops and cinemas close due to the malls. (Santurce, Puerto Rico, for example, lost I'd say over 90% of its cinemas and retail stores, all due to one mall.)

During the 90's big-box retailers such as Target, Walmart, etc. came and shredded what was left. Now malls are populated by franchise chains, not independents - and the malls themselves are a dying breed in the US.

So what do I think of Amazon and other e-tailers? I love it. Shopping for some things such as shoes and clothing can be a bit difficult, but for other goods such as music, blurays, books, parts, etc -- I don't even bother going to a mall, what with the crowds and stupid, ignorant sales staff. With Prime and a few dollars i have to wait only a day. Surely I can do that! Maybe not 20 years ago, but now I have the patience.

  For some of my fringe hobbies I go out of my way to support the small businesses. Like Marshall Street for disc golf, for example - they're a little store in Massachusetts. Or Airline Museum for aircraft die-casts. Or RightStuf for anime. It's not all about Amazon, one can (and should!) give business to small online shops who deserve it!

Amazon is revenge on the big-box stores for wiping out small-time merchants. I don't think it set out to be that, but every time I see a walmart close I grin a little. I resented it when they popped up, and now I don't mind seeing them go.

I've even bought a few appliances from Amazon, without showrooming. Careful reading of descriptions and in-depth studying of reviews help to offset losing the ability to hold the object in your hand prior to purchase. So far I'm happy with my online appliance purchases.

It would be deliciously ironic if there's a renaissance of the small independent shop away from a mall. I'd love to see that. But then I'd love to see things made in the country of purchase again (USA for me) but that's, for now, just a dream.

Retail is dead, it shot itself in the head years ago. Good riddance.

LIK = Logitech Illuminated Keyboard. (that's what they themselves call it, LIK)

Scissor-action, good feedback with minimal noise, key dip is about halfway between a laptop and a model M IBM. Adjustable backlit keys.

I have two, one for work one for home. Both were bought 2007 from local retailers. Trouble is, both initial purchases (from two different stores) had keys that would fail to strike about 20% of the time, so back to the retailers both went.

The replacements have been good. Still using both daily.

You got that backwards. Business puts people friendly to their businesses in power. Business tell gov't what to do, with money and favors.

Cree for the higher lumen stuff, and Ikea (dunno who makes theirs) for the 200-lumen stuff.

Both the Cree and Ikeas I get are 2700k, and trust me on this.. I was a huge tungsten snob, it's all about the color temperature.. I bought the LED lie hook line and sinker.

All of mine are opaque (soft white) and when they're in the fixtures, they're indistinguishable from the tungsten.

My power draw for my lighting (all-up) was around 550 watts. Now it's around 56. (both figures calculated by totting up all the wattage from all the fixtures)

There's also a knock-on effect, the LEDs run so much cooler I suspect the AC runs less. Maybe not a lot less, but any less is welcome.

The only thing I haven't LED-ified is the home cinema, due to the lighting requirements there it's all MR-16 mostly 10* 20w spots on a dimmer, rarely run them brighter than 50%. For now I refuse to give these up.

Oh the bathroom is also still tungsten. Four huge 25w globes. These new filament-type LED may just the thing to LED-ify the bathroom.

And yes.. I've also noticed a lack of bug-attraction with LED, as evidenced by the two 1000-lumen LED monsters in the garage. Barely any bugs wander in. A moth maybe. A bee, once. But nothing near the bugstorm induced by my very brief fling with CFL. Very brief. Like 2 days. I hate them. Hate hate hate!

LED FTW

This is what I get for hitting submit after getting derailed by a coworker.

What I meant was "Something a crazy spark like Agatha would make."

I don't care what it does, 10K for a non-mechanical watch is highway robbery. Hell even 10k for a mechanical is highway robbery.

I'd much rather get Spring Drive from Seiko. That way I'd have some truly freaky-deaky nerdy machinery on my wrist. Something go crazy a spark like

Something like this Grand Seiko but with a di-modell sharkskin band. 4k $US at current exchange.

It would be a waste of ink and paint. Good cartoons do require the viewer have *some* brainpower and *some* willingness to learn / embrace new things.

Now, if we expose them to 24x7 Barney, their collective heads would surely implode!

Anyone join me in a virtual toast? My glass has an old Scotch in it. We'll raise and clink glasses, and echo Kirk's toast.. all those years ago.. 1984, wasn't it?

To Absent Friends.

Body found, no fingers and cell phone missing.

I know you're probably going for Funny (which it is!) but sadly chopping fingers off to fool biometrics has been done before.

Problem with using the machete technique on the iPhone is that it requires a live body.

Starting to? Been going on for a while, for me. But it isn't the computers nor the internet which are rotting away it's the companies behind it all -- and the Governments which the companies run!

How to get out of this mess? I fear the only way is to go off the grid as much as possible.

Or a global revolution, and not the it's-morning-in-america-hold-hands-sing-kumbaya good-hearted revolution, I'm talking pitchforks, torches and worse, far worse.

It's gotten to where I just don't read the news much anymore, and i think the last time i purposely turned my tuner to CNN was the 2008 elections.

Now, everytime I go in the break room and CNN is on, I immediately flip it to Science or History. Maybe someone will learn something useful or interesting from How it's Made while they get their coffee.