But the method points out that $1.60 is 30% of what you could have made @ 11%. Thirty percent is a big difference.

$1.60 is almost 30% of $5.40.

If you look at it that way, the difference between 7% and 11% is pretty big actually. You're just talking in small sums.

[forum.videohelp.com]

This is by far a unique feature I've never seen in other media players.

For example, I like the PBS documentary series Frontline. Frontline posts its programs online, but only as streams. It wants you to buy the programs.

The vids are embedded and there's nothing out there that I can find besides VLC that will allow you to stream the programs (those Firefox plugins don't work either), walk away from your computer, come back later than the streams are now media files on your desktop to play whenever you want online or offline.

And the cool thing is if the streaming video skips on buffer overload, it doesn't record those beats -- it's actually not recording the stream -- it's somehow able to download the stream as it's playing.

This is by far the best feature, because it's the only media player I know that can do it.

That gave me a chuckle. I though social Darwinism went out with the Gilded Age. And all those super-duper people have a harder time accumulating wealth and power without tricking some of the love down. Every time that faucet gets shut, there's social upheaval and revolution and super-duper people lose their power and wealth. So there is a individual interest in flushing Ayn Rand down the toilet of the 20th century mindset. I thought we learned that by now.

Re: the guy who says he's driven 20K without changing his oil: I wouldn't buy your car from you or anyone else who has a cavalier attitude about changing oil because this attitude spills over into other maintenance issues that will shorten the life of your car.

Also: driving habits make a huge difference. If you drive like an a**hole then you're abusing your vehicle and, again, I wouldn't buy your car from you. People like that are the reason why used car lots have a lot of lemons.

>> "percentage of workforce in the creative class"
>> Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?

Dunno, I guess it depend on whether you like to see dumb Hollywood movies rented form blockbuster or you like film festivals. A lot has been said about the creative class, but I guess some people don't like creative types. They prefer the more down-to-earth straight talk express. To each their own, but anyone whose lived in places that lose more creative talent than they gain better like huntin', fichin' an' campin' more than they like those lib-ril elitist museums and book readings.

Americans pay 25% of their health care in administration costs. That has nothing to do with the size of the country or whatever other lame "free market" excuses you can muster. These administrative costs are all the paperwork and time we spend arguing among consumer, insurance company and hospital. If we solved this problem, we'd knock 20% off the costs right there.

Secondly, your "innovation makes the world go 'round" argument is also bollocks because pharmaceutical companies spend more MARKETING drugs than they do RESEARCHING new drugs. And though the innovation argument does hold some water, if nobody can afford these drugs, what's point? To help Warren Buffet keep his cholesterol in check? Part of "innovation" is a little something we call "affordability". Without it, innovation means nothing to 99% of us.

Example: I have a friend with a dangerous auto-immune condition (one of those things that a bee sting will kill her) -- she spend $900 a month on drugs to keep her alive AFTER her insurance. This is crime.

So take your Republican talking points and shove it, OK? I'm getting fed up with apologists like you.

Why don't thy allow a reverse popularity function (where you can click a button and the results will list form least popular to most popular). And why don't they have a "median" function (where the results are reordered at the median of popularity). Seems like this would be easy and would allow users to go "deep" into search results on results that list thousands of pages. I've always wondered if they aren't doing enough with their algorythm of popularity.

ALSO: I have three credit cards and ZERO balance. But one of the cards (Chase) has only lowered my APR from 29.99 percent to 28.99 percent and I haven't carried a balance with Chase since JANUARY.

That makes no sense. Four months without a balance (on any card) and Chase decides to "reward" me with a drop from 29.99 to 28.99?

THAT'S F**KING NUTS! F.U. CHASE! I will NEVER use this card, but I will make sure to keep the account open if I can, you bastards.

And I am afraid to call them and ask why, because I'm afraid they will close my account and screw up my credit score. NOT FAIR! NOT FAIR!

God I hate the credit card system so so much. I am so glad I am debt free now and the only reason why I use cards at all is to once in a while charge something (and immediately pay it off) just to register activity for the purposes of my credit score.

The whole system is whacked, which is why I love the very last scene of 'Fight Club'.

And I love how polticians make promises to cap high interest rates: at 30%. 30%!!!

Seriously, if you are a 30% APR risk you shouldn't be getting credit, period.

I am solvent, but for years I had to pay of $26,000 in CC debt. Every single one of those years the companies shafted me with high interest rates, at one point touching 30.99%. I paid off every penny and then some, and even after I paid ti all off it took a YEAR for the companies to gradually reduce my interest rate, and even after like six months of NO DEBT, my cc interest rates hovered above 15%.

Total crap.

The people here who have Stockholm Syndrome to the system are the same ones who, five years ago, would have had no problem with the banks "right" to repackage crappy mortgage loans and sell them as AAA securities -- they would have said "oh, the it's bank's rights to find consumers to buy these securities -- viva la free market!"

What annoys me is that there's really nothing wrong with any of these items in the bill, and yet... we still gotta deal with the financial services equivalent of those polygamist wives: people who will pull out that lame libertarian argument that the financial services industry has every right to engage in predatory lending.

I am going to argue that you get what you vote for. The insurance industry discriminates against all kinds of people. Health insurance only insures healthy people and fights covering people who have a greater risk of needing to file claims.

I have worked abroad twice in my life. And each time I returned to the USA I had to pay extra for my car insurances based on the fact I had not owned a car in the previous couple of years. This discrimination cost me hundreds of dollars. Both times it took a year for the extra I had to pay to be removed.

The insurance industry argues that it is involved in determining risk, so it discriminates against people on the slightest evidence that they fit a demographic greater risk of having to file a claim.

By this logic, returning vets would be considered at a greater statistical risk of filing a claim if their population is at a greater chance of, say, reckless driving, alcoholism, etc. So if the typical returning war vet has a greater chance of, say, drinking and driving, or driving recklessly and getting into an accident, then the insurance industry leverages this risk.

I don't like this.

If you don't like this then stop complaining about those wicked, evil big government regulations. If you want more corporate responsibility, you can't expect the corporations to do it out of altruism. If a returning war vet is statistically more likely than the Average Schlub (esp. considering they are often younger) to get into a vehicular accident they why wouldn't the insurance industry leverage against this if it isn't told not to do that by "big guv-mint"?

I don't know if vets are statistically more likely to file claims, but I'm sure that's what the logic is, according to the insurance industry. But in any case, if they penalize people for not owning a car for a year or two, then OF COURSE their going to penalize people who have been in a war zone for a year.

It's ironic, because a lot of people who might be outraged over this probably expect the corporations to be more altruistic and compassionate to war veterans. But why should they? It's the government's job to ORDER them to do that -- but then that's big, evil big government regulations.

Like I said: you get what you vote for.

How do you lug a laptop everywhere you might need to refer or wrote down notes? I'd say 80% of the things I jot down don't need to be backed up, and if I did that my hard drive would be filled with lots of superfluous data I don't need. (I also have visual memory and write things down simply to help remember them without actually referring back to what I've written down. Anyone else have this?)

It's getting to a point in my life where my personal data is something I prefer to keep trimmed down to the necessities. Everything else goes on Post-It notes and most of that eventually gets thrown away.

For general note-taking I most often defer to my small clip-board (about 5X10, which fits those smaller yellow legal pads) and sometimes heavier stock paper I've cut to fit (standard A4 cut in half) or the smaller yellow legal pads. Small clip boards, oddly enough, aren't as easy to find as the standard ones. It really works great at meetings or anywhere you don't have a tabletop to write on -- but it's small enough to fit in shoulder-bag pockets for easy access, unlike standards clip boards.

I have several of Moleskines, but they're so expensive that I really budget what I use them for -- mainly for idea-jotting rather than general note taking -- stuff I might keep and accumulate over time. You'd have to be rich or silly to use $12 pocket pads for most kinds of note-taking.

There is however, a $3 non-branded Chinese made "Moleskine" that I've seen some places (hard to find) that is IDENTICAL to the pocket-sized book-bound blank-page Moleskine -- it even has the back pocket and the elastic band. They're so cheap that I use those a lot for general note taking (grocery lists, to-do lists), tearing pages out as I use them. The great thing about those is that once you've torn out all the pages, you have this nifty pocket sized folder with a inside pocket and an elastic band. I use one as a portable blank-index-card wallet, another for index cards with notes (for studying), one for receipts and another for business cards.

Basically you harvest a bunch of wild cherries (which are smaller than the cherry we know and love, but taste the same) and put them in a large mason jar till you have at least half the jar filled up. Then you add the whiskey. Any kind of whiskey will do: Cuttyshark, etc.

You seal the jar and let it sit in a dark place for a month or so.

The end result is a "very cherry" flavored whiskey that is quite delicious. And you can re-fill the jar at least one more time using the same cherries.

I tried this in New York City one summer (the West side bike path is lined with wild cherry trees that give fruit in the summer) and it was really good. If you harvest cherries in the urban setting you should be sure to wash them well. Who knows what the city sprays on the trees.

I think you could do the same with vodka. In fact, it might even taste better -- pure cherry flavor rather then cherry/whiskey.

I have been told that the process actually increases the alcohol levels of the liquor (due to the sugars in the cherries), but I don't know if that's true or if it even matters!.

I think a lot of airport security is a charlatan's game where the "theatrics" of making everyone remove their shoes and whatnot is supposed to give us a false sense that the government is doing something.

If anyone doubts this I highly recommend you listen to Harry Shearer's "Le Show" (Harry Shearer is, among many other things, the voice of many a Simpsons character and played the bass player in Spinal Tap). A segment of Shearer's weekly program is dedicated to stupid airport security mistakes and experiences. Funny, but kinda scary, stuff, that is!

#1.) My modem driver didn't work with Vista. I know this is the modem-maker's fault (for not rushing to crreate a software updated to accommodate Microsoft) but still... connecting to the Internet is not a complicated process and my modem is very simple and cheap, which is why I like it. If Microsoft can't figure out how to make any modem work then it loses points with me.

#2.) A barrage of pop-up windows reminding me of stupid things, like asking me TWICE if I want to delete a file. Does ANYONE in the world need two pop up windows each time s/he deletes a Word file? I realize this can be disabled and Windows must appeal to the lowest common denominator, but this just dumb and off-putting to people who aren't illiterates around computers.

#3.) The permissions system in general is intrusive and useless. And the first time I liberated my system of permissions I got a little nervous as Vista scanned EVERY FILE IN MY SYSTEM, taking a couple of minutes to set permissions for each individual file. That is stupid.

#4.) When you open large folder, Vista seems to take longer than XP, so long that they incorporated a "lading bar" into the top of each window. Why? Does this have to do with permissions? Permissions should be disabled at default. If users screw something up, it's their fault. This is like buying a toaster with a age-verification feature to keep youngsters form burning themselves, forcing everyone else to have their age verified before making toast. Just dumb.

#5.) I'm not impressed with Aero.

ON THE PLUS SIDE:

I really liked the new way to browse files, with the little drop down arrows at the top of each window. But this wasn't enough to override the negatives.

PS:

When I went back to XP I was actually relieved. And XP definitely shuts down and turns on faster.

All these "savage democracy" tools that scream "Commie!" each time somebody suggests a little accountability or that the role of a government BY THE PEOPLE is to provide a system of checks on otherwise unregulated business are part of the problem.

This is an asinine criticism. Why not get rid of the USDA and let the meat producer regulate themselves, too?

Idiots. You deserve the system you defend.

Also, ever since I've brought a laptop along I never end up using it as much as I think I will. Part of it is the constant service -- moving the laptop in a cramped space to make room for the food, to to let somebody by. I also get a little seasick staring at a bright screen (it seems very bright once all the lights are turned off) on a swerving vessel. I prefer to bring a book or magazines because they're just more practical.

But I will say that my family's business when I was growing up noticed that people who pay with checks that have the little Jesus fish logo on them were more likely to write hot checks. I saw this in effect, especially among people who have Jesus fish on their checks and wanted NET-30 or NET-60 payments (get the product, then pay within 30 or 60 days without interest -- a courtesy to regular retail customers). They type of product the business sold was likely to end up in gift shops in Red States, so we would get a lot of "Jesus fish" checks. (Not a majority of the checks, but a noticeable amount of them.)

Our theory was that people so into Christianity that they would advertise their faith as logos on their checks were more likely to run their businesses under the business model that "the Lord will come through for you in a pinch". Subsequently, they were more likely to write a check for something in hopes the funds would be available when the check is cashed.

Obviously you don't need to be a evangelical to engage in such irresponsible behavior, nor do all evangelical business people engage in this habit. But numbers don't lie, and a disproportional amount of "Jesus fish" checks that bounced.

I guess some Christians have forgotten the concept that God helps those than help themselves, which to me, a Godless heathen, sounds suspiciously tautological: if you help yourself do you really need God's "intervention"?.

It's legal in Saudi Arabia for men and women to be in public together. The interpretation by the highly conservative muttawwa in and around Riyadh is that khulwa (the Shariah law that prohibits men and women form being in "seclusion" together -- as in, a room isolated form others) applies to public places.

In other words: there is no law against it -- it's silly tribal interpretations that the Saudi gov't tolerates out of constantly appeasing these tribal assholes.

Also: A "US businesswoman" in misleading. Her parents are Jordanians and she grew up in Salt Lake City, but has been married to a Saudi for 27 years and they moved back to Saudi Arabia about 8 years ago. Her husband happens to be a bigwig in the more liberal city of Jeddah, which is why this story got publicity in the first place.

So, hanke, you're wrong: there is no law against unrelated men and women sitting together in Starbucks. It's more complicated than that. Why do Americans always insist on looking at the world as if every place is just a more primitive version of the American way of doing things? To talk about "a law" in Saudi Arabia is not the same as talking about "a law" in Ohio. Very few things are codified in Saudi Law.

For example: there is no "law" against women driving.

The decision was economic: HFCS is way cheaper than cane sugar. In fact, the sugar/HFCS debate is a huge one in the NAFTA circles: US manufacturers (I think DeKalb and ADM) were given corporate welfare to open HFCS factories in Mexico to complete directly with cane workers (Veracruz is a major cane-producing region in Mexico).

Cane worker I interviewed were getting like $2-per-worker for each ton of cane cut in take-home pay.

Unless things have changed: I think the Coca Cola in Mexico uses HFCS, expect around Easter or during Lent o something -- some Catholic thing, but I can't recall why.

And, yes, components you buy have warranties -- which are easier to redeem, by the way, than a warranty on an entire system. A vendor, or example, is more likely to just give you another graphics card off the shelf than an entire new system that has a problem.

I upgrade almost annually.

I recently upgraded a system by keeping the DVD drive, the processor, the monitor and the peripherals. I dropped $1,000 and got a blazing fast DDR3 RAM MoBo (2 giga, 1200 bus speed) and a sexy low-sound Lian Li black aluminum box. I feel like I just bought an entirely new system that's at the "cutting edge" of performance.

Added bonus: after a few upgrade, you generally have enough components laying around to build a second desktop on the cheap that can be used, for example, as a media center PC hooked up to your home stero and teevee or whatever.

Laptops on the other hand: no way. Just buy one off the shelf. In fact, though I prefer non-Mac systems and have a Dell laptop I will probably buy a Mac laptop because laptops are something where I think Apple has the right idea -- I prefer the customization and hodge-podge third-party applications of a Windows system (that sometimes cause problems that you have to work out to maximize your customization), but on the road I just want something integrated, reliable and use friendly -- for me: the desktop can be complicated, but the laptop should be an idiot box. Apple is good at idiot boxes. (And I mean that in a good way.)

[www.subgenius.com]

ME SAYS: Being more less from Oklahoma City (don't live there now) and having spent six years in Norman, I assure you that Oklahoma City has more going on. If you took away the dozens of Norman's spots bars (pseudo Irish pubs that serve Bud and mozzarella sticks to redneck college-aged cap-head frat boys watching OU football) you be left with the all-ages venue run by the Starlight Mints that sells organic muffins and the Deli (or as we used to call it: The Smelly). Oh and Pepe Delgado's new tequila bar. OKC is not nearly the best city to live in America, but by sheer size it's got more going on than Norman. That's why when I visit OKC my Norman friend drive to the city not vice versa.

Also: Norman is 26 miles down an interstate from OKC. It takes longer than 20 minutes to run that gauntlet (which is what it feels like you're doing: running a gauntlet.

MAJOR GENERAL IS RIGHT: Norman is actually more expensive because of the student housing and community of well-paid professors buying up houses. And then you have to deal with college-aged morons and their immature loudness.

MICKEYMOO SEZ: "So if I move to Oklahoma City I can buy a $400+ Coach handbag every week!"

ME SAYS: Not really. What this list doesn't tell you is why OKC is cheaper - the job market sucks. Unless you're in healthcare services and work for the OU Health Sciences Center the job market is pretty bad. $550 a month is a lot if you can't earn over $30,000 a year before FICA and health insurance deductions.

92BUICK: You are right. I was raised in OKC and have lived in various places, including NYC and aboard. I don't miss OKC. And it deserved to be slammed because of it's f-ed up politics and the fact that Oklahoma has been a welfare state since the 80s. (Taking form the federal gov't more than it pays in.)

WRING SEX "i want to move to OKC if only to walk by Flaming Lips Alley every day of my life."

I SAY: No way, dude. Isn't that in bricktown? Bricktown is some fake-ass development. It's ugly and stupid. And Wayne Coyne lives in a funky old house in a black/hispanic ghetto of OKC, which I think is kinda cool. His house is nowhere near the street named after his band and noboy that goes to bricktown woul be caught aline in the neighborhood where Wayne Coyne lives. (I hate the Flaming Lips, I love Wayne Coyne.)

SHABNAYNAY: One good thing about OKC is those awesome airplane bungalow homes that are dirt-cheap. And I suppose my previous comments are offensive. I ssume you live in the tiny progressive hipster bubble of OKC. Those people seem to really live ina bubble and ignore the vast wasteland of bullshit around them. That said: to live inside that bubble (Red Cup, Paseo, Andrew Rice fundraising events, the IAO, Tuesday nights at the Hi-Lo, etc.) it can be quite nice.