Try using the right weapon weapon; no, an SMG is not the right weapon to use against the super-mutants.
Use the right tool for the job. To kill super-mutants, you want a long rifle of some sort (hunting rifle, sniper rifle, etc.), or energy weapons (Plasma/LASER), or a gatling gun. Missile launchers and mini-nukes also work well. Me, I just went to the plasma rifles and turned the muties into piles of goo with 1 or 2 headshots, VASTS or not.
"On my mac, accessing anything not docked is a pain...Unity/gnome 3 suck on a large screen. "
Apparently, you've not mastered the use of spotlight on your Mac. CMD-Space and type a letter or two of the application name. This has worked since at least Tiger (I switched just after Apple went to Intel).
Were I going to spend that sort of cash, it would be on some Magnepan 20.1s. No need for subs there either; though I'll never be without good subwoofers (note the plural).
Sadly, I have budgetary and room issues that preclude me from going to that extreme; I'm not so far gone down the rabbit-hole that I need or want to spend anywhere near $10k per pair for speakers. I might consider some Maggie 1.7's, but that is the limit to what I could fit in my dedicated room; I'm far more likely to just get another pair of MMGs and a used CC3 to round out the speakers for HT duty. As you know, these types of speakers require a fair bit of breathing room, and my room is not big enough for any of the big-dog ESL/planar magnetics.
I prefer the maggie presentation, others prefer their ESLs. Both sound great, but each sounds different. You can't really go wrong with either, to be honest.
Electrostats & planar magnetics make sweet sound.
I've heard some very good sounding box speakers, but they still sound like boxes until you're into insane price territory. Full range dipoles sound much better, IMHO, than any box speaker even close to the same price (even after factoring in the more demanding amp requirements for e-stat/planar magnetics). They do require a lot of room to breathe, and many will require a good sub to fill in the bottom octave(s) though.
Martin Logans don't quite blend seamlessly between their e-stat mid/highs and their dynamic bass. I still like M-L speakers, but I really like Magnepans.
I'm running some Magnepan MMGs (the "baby" magnepans and quite reasonably priced at $600/pair), but driving them with about 400W per channel. A 4 Ohm nearly purely resistive load likes the current, and it takes a fair amount of juice to make these rather insensitive speakers really sing.
To be honest, you really need a dedicated room for any really good audio setup unless you go headphones (I'm not very keen on 'phones, but different strokes for different folks). My dedicated room is ~50/50 music and home theater, and the speakers are roughly 18" from the side walls, and a good 6 feet out into the room from the front wall.
This style of HUD has been available on Corvettes for over a decade...
It kicks ass!
I've had 2 cars with HUD. Both C5 generation Corvettes, and the difference in windshield price is about 2x-3x as much for a HUD windshield vs non-HUD. I had to have the windshield replaced in my old C5 and it ran about $1500 for the HUD windshield, whereas a standard windshield was around $800 (no-deductible glass coverage is a no-brainer). Granted, these are not LASER setups, but it will still require different optical properties for the plastic layer in the glass compared to standard. Note that with current offerings, some polarized sunglasses greatly affect the appearance of the HUD.
I should have waited and found an STS with the HUD, as I find the lack of a HUD to be distracting now. It is very nice to see Speed, engine RPM and fuel level (or oil pressure or coolant temp) in your field of view as you drive. Adding navigation to such a setup would be nice, assuming it can only be set up while not in gear (as my current factory nav setup is).
I've not had the opportunity to drive a C6 with HUD yet, but it is improved over the version in my current C5 Z06 with the addition of G-force and more colors.
Once you've driven with a HUD, you don't like to drive without it, in my experience.
"This (central Illinois) may be the only place in the world where you can have snow storms, ice storms, rain, hail, sleet, and tornados all in the same week!"
We've had that in the same day here in MN; last spring, as a matter of fact. For interesting weather, there is a lot to be said for the upper midwest. Now, about the fault lines running through here... we're hosed when they let loose considering nothing here is built to withstand that sort of stress.
Try more like 14% to education in fiscal 2009 and 13% to defense. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/index.php#usgs302a
You fail to lump total spending together, because, you know, the states pay nearly all of the education expenses. For instance, here in MN, K-12 gets ~25% of the state budget.
You can massage numbers many ways, and only using the federal spending on education tells a very different story from how much is actually spent when you factor in state, local, and federal money.
Eats about 10 watts on idle.
Memory fault - where am I?