Your implication was that they were "unable to come up with electric cars faster than" Tesla. I'm not arguing the reasons behind jettisoning the EV1 project, but rather the fact that it *can be done* by any company willing to put their minds to it. GM proved it while using inferior battery technology than is available today in a comparable time frame. It's a damn shame they gave up on it, and I sure hope Tesla doesn't run out of money due to lack of purchases and/or one-too-many lawsuits.

Please see: EV1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1 It's not that they're "unable" but rather they're unwilling.

That $399 Mini (http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0264432) is the previous model, while the current model (http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0307581) is $599. [I had to check b/c I want a cheap Mini, but was sadly disappointed by previous post.]

Since Dell has been the common comparator in this thread, a quick look found the Dell Studio Hybrid, a similarly spec'd & sized product starting at $499. http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-studio-hybrid?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

For what it's worth, I use Apple and Dell hardware.

Fair enough, bad habit from too much Twittering, I suppose.
U of Maryland: http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/teen_marijuana.asp, Marijuana Public Policy: http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2005/study-teen-marijuana-use-in.html, Partnership for Drug-Free America: http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/About/NewsReleases/20th_Annual_Teen_Study

PUUUULLLEEEZE, let's not start making up usage statistics wildly.

In case anyone is curious, teen marijuana usage is down significantly year-over-year (U of Maryland: http://tinyurl.com/c5krlp, Marijuana Public Policy: http://tinyurl.com/6b9ut6, Partnership for Drug-Free America: http://tinyurl.com/cvocb2). The non-government-funded research my company performs continues to agree with this as well, so let's not get all crazy and assume The Man is behind these stats, either.

Whether or not 50% those eeevviiiilll district attorneys and prosecutors ever smoked marijuana is up for debate. IMHO, if half of them did, they would be less likely to prosecute. Maybe that's why they became prosecutors and not public defenders in the first place.

Stuart Mackenzie: Well, it's a well known fact, Sonny Jim, that there's a secret society of the five wealthiest people in the world, known as The Pentavirate, who run everything in the world, including the newspapers, and meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado, known as The Meadows.

Tony Giardino: So who's in this Pentavirate?

Stuart Mackenzie: The Queen, The Vatican, The Gettys, The Rothschilds, *and* Colonel Sanders before he went tits up. Oh, I hated the Colonel with is wee *beady* eyes, and that smug look on his face. "Oh, you're gonna buy my chicken! Ohhhhh!"

Charlie Mackenzie: Dad, how can you hate "The Colonel"?

Stuart Mackenzie: Because he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes ya crave it fortnightly, smartass!

-Source IMDB

/ I thought the last line was "...crave for it nightly..."