I've had a personal rickshaw for about 6 years. Fun! I haul friends and family around. Good times.

The Chinese one I started with is junky, but the Colorado-built Main Street I have bought since is far more capable. At $3400 new, they also cost about 10x what the Chinese ones run. Mine was bought used, and I have about $1000 in it as it sits today (details here: http://www.rickshawseason.com/about/main-street-pedicab/ )

If you've thought about getting a rickshaw for personal use, without knowing any details I'd say to go for it.

> The reason the LaserJet II is still working is that the guts were built by Canon. There are plenty of LaserWriter printers that still work, too. It was a good engine.

.

I'm still using a 15+ year old DECLaser 5100 which has the same Canon EX engine as the LaserJet 4 had, and it's still going strong. Those Canon engines are durable.

I used floppies for sneakerneting data to work up until 2002ish. That stated: 1. It was embedded system work. (small amounts of data) 2. I had o'plenty disks from the 1990's. I didn't need to buy anything new. Today, it's unrealistic. But, in 2002 embedded world, when email storage also had a much higher premium, the 1.44 floppy wasn't so bad. And pretty much every system had a 1.44 floppy drive installed and active.

You might also enjoy these gems:

1. R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" (uncensored). Lots of people talking about feelings while having guns pointed at them. Available on DVD (including Netflix). The sequel isn't as amusing.
2. "Fifteen": The Nickelodeon soap opera based around the lives of 15-year-olds. Here's the only video I know of that's a full episode:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBgWdlyt4VA

The Billy character is played by Ryan Reynolds.

I haven't used the Other OS feature on my PS3 that much, but it was a motivator for buying the unit. Now, it's going to be gone. Sad. I'll remember this in in the future, SONY.

I enjoyed Rickrolling the Boise Tour de Fat cycling event in 2008:

• (warning, video plays automatically) http://www.rickshawseason.com/tour-de-fat-2008-bois/

Great event every year, and great fun.

The parent makes a great point. Don't have your host as your domain registrar. What if something goes wrong with your host, such as a dispute over billing? They have your domain. Use a separate registrar service. I personally have been using GKG.net (no interest in the company, just a happy customer) and I have at least one host I use with the "free" domain service, but I don't use it. Go ahead and pay the $10ish a year for the independence, even though it isn't a necessary expense. The peace of mind alone is worth the less than a dollar a month to me.

I worked at a couple failed startups and at with the second one, I was trying to steer product direction from the engineer level. I had some success, but not enough to save the company. We had the money, the market, and the time. We didn't have the product or vision at the top to succeed. That is how I ended up in MBA school. I graduate in December.

I haven't tried it, but I bet my Logitech bluetooth keyboard works with a phone. From there, all that's missing is:

1. Some sort of video out
2. Software and UI for running in computer mode.

When you think about the amount of new TVs with built-in VGA and HDMI inputs, a phone that grows into a computer could become popular.

Actually, it's Seth Lover who came up with the Humbucker design (PAF) and Ted McCarty (with some help) came up with the Tune-o-Matic. "The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy: 1915-1963" by Robb Lawrence has more info, as does Wikipedia:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAF_(pickup)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tune-o-matic

All the same, Les Paul's impact on the world is remarkable.

Show me any time open software has done anything like what the BSA/Microsoft did to the makers of Music Man guitars (Ernie Ball) and we'll talk: http://news.cnet.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html Worrying about what could happen is one thing, but knowing what has happened is more significant.

Here's a great list of software innovations by David A. Wheeler:
http://www.dwheeler.com/innovation/innovation.html

In line with your comment, he focuses on the innovations rather than with what specific applications they became popular.