It didn't work for Saturn either. They had a strict no-haggle, what-you-see-is-what-you-pay pricing system at their dealerships. Turns out people like to haggle when buying cars, even if they end up paying no less than the MSRP anyway. They still feel like they got a deal, and that's what is important to them.

"Have you ever tried simply turning off the TV, sitting down with your children, and hitting them?"

Another one for the Saturns. I had a 1992 SL2 that I bought from my brother around 2004/2005-ish (he bought it brand new). When I got it, it had about 190k miles on it, and ran great. It had maintenance issues, mostly a few troubled parts that seems to go bad every couple years, but other than that, it ran great. It had a slight oil burn because the piston rings were fried. It still got 30+ mpg, and was very reliable. At 255k miles, I had the engine and transmission rebuilt, because at the time, I didn't see myself affording a new or used car of the same quality at any point in the near future, and I wanted to make sure the car lasted a lot longer. I traded it in last year because I needed a truck, but I have no doubt that it could have gone another 250k miles with a driver who took care of the car and did regular maintenance.

I hear a lot of people claiming Saturns aren't reliable. I've found that only to be true if you don't change the damn oil regularly. Those engines are very intolerable of dirty oil.

Are you really implying that the physically fit have lower IQs than the physically weak or vulnerable? If so, I question your own IQ, my good sir.

Chiming in on the don't get it sentiment. It becomes very repetitive, very fast, which to me equates to boredom. Perhaps the popularity is related to simple minds being amused by simple things?

If I had mod points, I would mod you up. I can't agree more that they are using the wrong definition of major version. Now, it may be true that if they said minor version the chart might still look the same, with the iPhones being green the whole way across. However, I don't think minor versions are a big thing to showcase here, as the minor versions don't have that much differentiation. Maybe some UI changes, but that's about it. And the UI is up to the manufacturer in a lot of cases (HTC and Motorola for instance).

If you go by actual major version, and exclude 3.x, then the original Motorola Droid is just now one major version behind. I'd be willing to bet that this is the case with a lot of the other phones as well.

Also, release schedule should be a factor in this as well. iOS has had their major version releases about one year apart for each release. All of which I think have been released with a new version of the iPhone. Android major releases have had a similar release schedule (except for 3.x, but as we're not considering that a major version for phones, we shouldn't consider it here, either), but the phones have come out on a much faster release schedule (not to mention there are a hell of a lot more of them).

One last thing to consider about this chart is the scale between phones on the timeline. It's technically correct, but is positioned in such a way to lead the viewer into seeing that the iPhones have been on the latest version more than the other phones. It might come off better if the chart spanned the 4 years that it actually spanned, with the phones positioned where their 3 years actually took place, and showed some sort of "unknown" color for the portion of the three years that has yet to happen.

I don't think it's entitlement so much as a lack of curiosity and drive. I'm in no way a prodigy (intelligent, sure, but not beyond normal levels), but went through much of the same in high school. In grade school and middle school, most things were new and interesting, so I was almost always engaged in what I was doing and did very well. In high school, I attempted to push myself by taking honors classes or higher level classes. I quickly found out that for history and literature, I just flat out didn't care, and my grades in those classes suffered as a result. It wasn't because the material was tough, because it wasn't; I was just more inclined to actually do the work for my math and science classes. When I dropped back down to the normal level of history and literature, I was still bored, but could largely ignore the classes and still get decent grades. In my senior year of high school, I simply became bored with everything, and just skated by. It was never because the work was too difficult; it was always because it was boring and I just didn't want to do it. Fast forward to college, and things were new and interesting again. I excelled at the classes because I was learning new things, and things I wanted to learn.

The point is, someone can be the most intelligent person in the world, but if they have no drive or don't want to achieve greatness, no amount of pushing and prodding is going make them do so.

Celibacy would be a more correct term than abstinence for what you and the parent poster are implying. I think abstinence typically refers to something more temporary, like chastity.

This reminds me of the scene in X-Men 2 where Magneto pulls all the pins out of the soldiers' grenades while they are are still attached to their vests. I imagine a Jedi would do something similar. Or just use the Force to stop the blast entirely. I would think a Jedi could just stop a grenade from exploding.

Clearly, you have not looked a primate in the mouth, ever. http://www.google.com/images?q=primate+fangs

Agreed. I think 2-Wire does a lot of things right. Initial connection to a factory default router automatically initiates a setup process, which IIRC, will not give you internet access until completed. This process also forces you to change the default password, and, again IIRC, has the default wireless security set as WEP. Though, it has been a very long time since I set one up (they tend to last quite a long time, too); I may not be remembering things quite right.

They also tend to be smart enough to "notice" when you do things that the typical joe sixpack user would not do, like connect other routers up behind them, and it does some somewhat smart things in automatically configuring itself to handle those situations properly.

Of all the routers that I've used, I'd have to say that 2-Wire are currently my favorite, and Linksys are currently my most hated.

What you've said doesn't invalidate my point. I was just explaining that the parent was incorrect in his assumption that brakes are always stronger than the engine. This is simply not true, due to a variety of reasons, one of which could be some sort of computer control system. For instance, like you've said, ABS kicks in, and for some reason fails. If the throttle is wide open (due to your foot being on the pedal or mechanical/computer malfunction; it doesn't matter which), and some component of the braking system is faulty or fails, it is unlikely that you will be able to stop the car by braking alone.

1) Not if the brakes are bad, installed improperly, or computer controlled. All ABS brakes have some sort of computer control system. If it's the same system that controls the throttle... well, there you have it.

2) Agreed, but in a front wheel drive car, unless the wire is stretched from overuse or designed to do otherwise, the rear wheels should at least lock (or near lock) to some extent.

3) SHOULD, yes. DOES, not necessarily. Transmission inputs can be computer controlled as well, especially in automatic transmission vehicles.

Eyes wide, mouth vomiting is not what that looks like.

Welcome to arguing with people who argue simply for the sake of the argument. What you say could be 100% true and infallible, but they will always come up with some ridiculous scenario that makes you wrong, usually involving quantum physics, space/time continuum, parallel universes, or completely contradictory statements to your point. You will never be right, no matter how hard you try. There's always a "but, if...". Good luck.