Lunar Distance = 384,400km Venus comes as close as 38,000,000km (http://www.universetoday.com/14152/venus-distance-from-earth/) AKA, the asteroids came as close as Venus is to earth on it's shortest point. Hooray for sensationalism.

Monthly, $125k for me is:

• $6100 after taxes, health insurance, and 401k contributions
• $1550/mo cost of living (50/day food ($15 meal average after tip), public transportation ($4 - $6/day), coffee, $8/pack cigarettes, etc.)
• $365 (cable/electric/gas/phone)
• $1530 rent
• $600/mo for loans/credit card pay offs
• $500/mo for car insurance / gas/ tickets (no note)

Leaves $1555 for the other stuff .. like going out to bars, enjoying life, taking a vacation once in a while and having money to do it without touching savings, doctor visits, movies, concerts, buying new toys once in a while.

I'm not hurting, but when you consider that I save around $800/month, and the average cost of a house in SF is $735k, it would take 15 years to have enough money for just the 20% down payment in the present, which by then would be probably only 12% of the total cost of the house. Also you have to consider my rent is really cheap as it is rent controlled. Apartment seekers here are faced with 1 bedroom rents of $2000 and up, and 2 bedrooms at $3k or more, if they can even find a place .. and it is going up even more because of guys like me that aren't completely priced out of getting a place.

125k is OK for me. It's not enough for a person who wants to live in the city and have a social life and doesn't want to live with 5 other people in a 1200 sqft place, and who has aspirations of buying a house here.

If you make $80k in tech in SF, you better be living with 5 other people and eating ramen noodles. I'm at $125 and I feel it is pretty low. I get the luxury of living by myself in a rent controlled $1500/mo 1.5 bedroom .. that is pretty much the only splurge I have. Everything else goes to pay off loans, parking tickets, and the cost of living in the city. I know guys here that are Sr. Software Engineers making $180k. The average for in my group of friends for Senior Rails or Java dudes is around $140k.

There are Javascript "engineer" positions going for 160k/yr in SF, and I know many folks making 150k-160k as Senior engineers, http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/eng/3343883515.html

Thanks for Baldur's gate, and good luck on your future endeavors.

When people stop using lines of code as any sort of useful quantification of application worthiness or personal skill level. When I hear someone mention how many lines of code their application is, my first thought is that there is a whole lot of fat that needs to be trimmed -- or that they are terrible, inefficient programmers. It's about having nothing left to take away, not adding more to the pile.

While I'm sure living and working in the valley is great for some people, I enjoy a 20 minute commute to work, not needing a car except when going out of town, tons of things to do in the city every night, and most importantly, being within 5 blocks of:

1. A large grocery store
2. 5 Awesome Bars
3. 15 places to eat
4. A barber
5. Eye doctor, Dentist, Podiatrist (damn those hills)
6. Post Office
7. DMV
8. Liquor Stores
9. Coffee Shops
10. A beautiful park with running trails
11. Public Transportation if I need it
12. Many of my friends and coworkers
13. 3 fun music venues

And my rent is $2035 for a 900 square foot 2 bedroom that I've had for the last 6 years. Rent control is great :) Sure, it's noisy some nights. Sure some nights you can't see your hands in front of your face because of the fog. Sure, there are homeless people -- so what? If you're old and have a family then perhaps this isn't the place for you. SF is pretty anti-child. If you don't like being in the thick of everything -- stay in a quiet suburb. For single 20 and 30 somethings, this is where it's at.

Agreed. If I am hanging out in Oakland or Mtn View, I'll say I live in 'The City'. Otherwise if I am talking to friends in other citites/states or tourists in the city, I will say 'San Fran' or 'SF'.

Or -- buy a $300 bicycle, spend $10 in repairs per month, and actually save more money because you can cancel your $70/month Gym Membership. You also get to work in 20mins and home in 30 mins -- faster than MUNI, and almost as fast as taking a cab during rush your.

I don't necessarily agree with eating less for folks that are trying to lose weight - at least not initially. It really depends on the quality of what you eat, not the quantity. Remember what Jack LaLane said - 'If it tastes good, spit it out'.. If they eat less, they will have a hungry feeling. Instead, eat the same amount of better things for you, but spread it out over 5 meals instead of 3 meals, and always ensure your last meal of the day is the one you eat the least at, and the first of the day is the one you eat the most.. Take my advice -- I used to be overweight and weak, now at age 32 am rocking a 34 inch waist,16.5 inch arms, and running 2 miles in 15 mins :)

I am straight but have nothing against homosexuality. I just thought that the overt inclusion of homosexual relationships in Mass Effect 3 -- from nearly the beginning of the game -- was completely out of place. It's a fantasy world. Keep your political statements out of it. If you want to pursue a homosexual relationship with a crew member you are more than welcome to. Don't shove it down my throat -- so to speak.

I got Mass Effect 2 from a friend. I traded him a game for it. I liked the game so much, when Mass Effect 3 came out, I purchased the full retail version because I couldn't wait to play it. If you make your games compelling enough, people will flock to buy them brand new. Take a look at Madden '10. Within 1 month, 1.9 million people bought it brand new (http://kotaku.com/5356888/madden-tops-charts-again-but-sales-plummet-on-ps2-wii). After a 3 months, 3.9 million (http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/10/madden-10-has-shipped-3-9-million-copies/). I'm sure it has sold more since then .. but come on, a quarter of a billion dollars for a single video game that they just re-used old code and made a few tweaks to. People are still buying brand new games. I am if I like the game enough and typically the only way to get me in to a franchise is by a friend lending me a game, or me buying it used. I don't want to eat up 2 gigs of my 250 gig/mo limit to try some crappy limited demo. This is a great opportunity for a 4th gaming system to come out without DLC and without prohibiting used games. I would buy it in an instant.

Even scarier, if you have a Facebook account and want to share some links, Facebook has started to censor site URLs they believe are malicious from the Facebook walls. Try to post a link to http://www.spi0n.com/ on your wall to see it in action.

I suppose they should put labels on beer that it causes aggressive behavior. Then a note on cigarettes warning that quitting smoking can cause aggressive behavior. Then go to all of the parents that they convinced should feed their children Ritalin and let them know it causes aggressive behavior. Then visit the gym and let them know. Finally, top it off with letting them know that lying politicians can also cause aggression in the constituents that voted for them.

Is it me or could anything from a stick of gum, to ear plugs, to a bottle of water be considered a 'Hoax Device' to somoneone who was paranoid enough?