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I don't think anyone out there is saying that from a $/GB perspective that SSD's are a bargain.

But here are two key points:

1) Not everyone needs 1TB of storage (about $100, and practically entry level now for hard drives). Especially on laptops, a $350 32GB SSD (also entry level) can get you quite far, especially if it is reserved for the OS and applications. You can pick up a 32GB SSD for a reasonable price, and get the really good performance, and use a big, cheap HD for media files.

2) Many people view the extra performance + lower power consumption + greater reliability as worth the premium price, and that makes them a value. Just because they can't compete on a $/GB basis doesn't make them a bargain to some people.

Are you talking about Microsoft BOB? That was my first distro too. I wonder when MS will be coming out with a 64-bit version. :)

There's a big difference between manufacturing a chip and designing one. Unless Apple suddenly acquires the capital and know how to run a fab, manufacturing is best left to foundries like TSMC.

I'd even be surprised if they did the design completely in-house. Most likely it would be a collaborative effort with an already established low-power design house like ARM.

How about Michael de Mare's Confessions of a Recovering Preppie? It was given a 0/10 on a Slashdot book review.

I'd like to see a follow-up book on all the crazy shit that's out there like the penis enlargers, the motorized belts that vibrate your fat away, oddly shaped ergonomic chairs and desks, ionic air purifiers, the automatic muscle exercisers, yadda yadda yadda.

Flip through a SkyMall catalog on an airplane some time and you'll find tons of examples of devices like this that supposedly improve your body or health. (Also, a magnet stand that magically ages your wine collection 100 years in minutes!!) This industry is even less regulated that alternative medicine but can be just as dangerous, if not more so. At a minimum, they lend credence to the saying, "a fool and his money are soon parted."

Not quite but if amazon has people (like me) selling used books, and they live in Canada, then by New York's flawed argument that gives amazon a "presence" in Canada and liable to Canadian sales tax.

This is the REAL conflict in America.

It isn't Republicans versus Democrats. It's city versus countryside, and it's been going on since 1989. Most people in the country (and suburbs) want minimal taxation and government to "butt out" of their affairs. Meanwhile city folk what free handouts like subways, hospitals, new baseball stadiums - they want to be treated like children being cared for by daddy government.

Country - independent
City - dependent

That's what almost all politics in America boils down to.

>>>>>PA national guard

>WTF, would someone please explain to an ignorant foreigner why a state has a national guard?

For the same reason why France, Germany, and Italy have national guards. I don't know if you've ever studied the American Civil War, but you'll probably note that the army is divided into State-based units, such as the Maryland 2nd regiment, or the Massachusetts 3rd, or the Georgian 5th.

The modern U.S. army has eliminated most of that to create a seamless whole, but the States still maintain their own private armies (national guard) and militias (their citizens).

Okay here's the deal:

Amazon.com has a place for people like me to sell online. New York claims that because some of those persons are from NY, that makes amazon have a presence in NY, even though those people are completely independent from amazon. Same applies to Ebay. Therefore NY wants amazon/ebay to add a 7% tax to all NY sales.

My argument is that I'm not amazon's employee - I'm independent and represent no one but myself. Furthermore I'm not a New York citizen, therefore NY has no authority over me. Furthermore: "it's taxation without representation" - I'm being taxed by a foreign body who does not represent me & for whom I never voted.

I am not going to collect and submit sales tax forms to NY on April 15, 2009. If they want to sue me, or issue a warrant for my arrest, go right ahead. I'll throw the papers in the trash and make sure never to visit NY State.

Well it's no different than someone in the EU, who lives in France, calling Germans foreign. The United States is the same deal where I am considered a non-citizen of New York, and therefore not subject to foreign NY law.

And hurt my own income?

No. I will still sell to New York, but I won't pay taxes. The Legislature has no authority to tax a foreign citizen outside their jurisdiction. The NY legislators can go to hell.

>>>Maybe you should stop installing every single thing that comes up on your screen.

I rarely install anything, ever. This was simply the result of scripts automagically changing the homepage in IE to www.porn.com (or what4ever) and taking advantage of exploits to save themselves to the c: drive (spybots). When I switched to Firefox, all those problems stopped.