jeffmeden

What's nuts is that the car has probably spent more hours being detailed than it has being driven. The sad thing is that my car looks like the before pics AFTER I get done washing it.

The guy not only has a long, exceedingly successful career but is in two new releases at this exact moment. At this point, it's got to take a boatload of restraint to not travel by chauffeured helicopter. Kudos to the guy, hope he and his passenger are OK.

Your sentence structure is amazing. (j/k?) With Uverse the main box has 2 HD/SD 'tuners' and 2 SD 'tuners' with which you can get programs off the wire, and each set top box has direct access to those streams. I have no problem recording/watching two HD programs at once, along with other SD watching going on in the house. I only have one HD PVR though, so 'only' two HD streams at a time isn't a problem.

To you (and chris, you anime freak): ATT announced that they are planning on banning P2P outright (via contractual obligation and penalties) on their 3g network. I don't have any proof that they interfere with P2P on Uverse but it wouldn't surprise me. It also wouldnt surprise me if they soon wrote P2P restrictions into their Uverse contract. Not that I would know, but pr0n/anime/tv eps that people bittorrent are easy to get on Uverse. The things I ran into(or didn't run into, as the case may be) were in other realms of the p2p jungle. There is *definitely* something fishy going on with Uverse compared to TW, I won't go into details; but I had TW one day, and Uverse the next day and the jungle (so to speak) changed dramatically. You know, for what it's worth. On the TV side, the HD dvr box is *amazing* compared to time warner or any other cable provider i've seen. Then only thing that irks me is that they didnt just build the PVR into the main box (the big one they stick in your basement) since the cable boxes run off of IP via that box anyway, they could have consolidated tuners and disks in there and made the set top boxes tiny and silent (mine whines once and a while, when the hard disk is at just the right temperature.) HD content is decent, a little better than TW since they carry more channels and it seems to be less pixelated than most other sources i've seen. That's not to say it's not without it's artifacts on some stations/shows, but there's no way to tell if it's ATT or the source show that encoded it poorly.

It may have affected it but there is a "relatively" simple process to petition the credit agencies to remove erroneous information from your record (erroneous being that which no solid evidence can support.) I was more directly referring to the suggestion that Eli actually 'made' $1900 from his endeavor, which is incorrect. The debt was never actually owed by him so he gained only the value of the settlement they paid him (and a truckload of satisfaction, no doubt.)

Just so there's no confusion, Eli didn't actually owe them anything, it was fraudulent debt (either by identity theft or outright creditor fraud.) For anyone who runs into this sort of thing but doesn't want to work to the extent Eli did, simply ask for written proof of the debt. If they can't provide documentation for you personally having agreed, they have no case and will likely bugger off and harass someone else. Note that this only works for *fraudulent debt*.

ATT Uverse has been doing well for me for the past month or so that i've had it. Good HD, good internet, the only drawback is you either need your own coax plant or your own ethernet plant running throughout your house. If you have an apartment or condo with multiple TVs, it can be tough to get the boxes deployed where you want them. Lucky for me I happen to have ethernet to every room in the house. The only downside is that you may experience difficulty with, say, 'peer' style software tools that you may use for your internetsing and what not. I noticed absolutely no restrictions with Time Warner, but ATT does things 'differently' shall we say. For what it's worth.

Not that it makes any difference since you seem to revel in ignorance, here goes one last shot at reality. When you introduce an extra cost, like tax, on a commodity, like gasoline, all you do is increase the cost-to-market of that product. The market price is determined solely by supply and demand, the more demand and/or the less supply, the higher the price. The cost to market is irrelevant as long as demand is carrying the price (in the case of gasoline this is foregone,) the price will go as high as it takes to sell exactly enough as to not run out. This is the purpose of the market. I am not suggesting the government influence the demand in any way.

You fail to grasp the concept of "market price". Try again.

The commodities market is *where you get your gas*. If there is an 'artificial' $.10 added on to the price, the exact same equilibrium is reached for the amount of gas available and the price the market is willing to bear. It works like this, say you went out today and added $.10 to the price at the pump. Low and behold, you don't sell as much gas at [price]+$.10 as you did at [price]. What happened? The price finds an equilibrium at wherever the market will bear. Tax or no tax, the price of gas will be the same given the buyers and sellers are bringing the same things to the table. With a tax you are basically forcing the supplier to slice off (some of the) profit and give it to the IRS. OSUGT: when you have grasped middle school economics, let me know.

Given that the amount of gas bought is fixed given a fixed price, I would be all for a raise to the gas tax. You conservatives are probably going to call me out on this one, but the bottom line is that if there were (for example) an extra 10c/gal tax on gas, the price at the pump adjusts according to supply/demand and the actual amount out of your pocket doesn't change. The same argument is brought against those who would see the gas tax go away in favor of giving 'relief' to motorists. Guess what, the price will be the price will be the price and tax or no tax it will cost just as much as we're willing to pay, no more and no less.

I did, thanks for asking! I have no problem with people buying pickup trucks who actually use them. The bottom line is that those people are still buying pickup trucks, because, oh my, they still need them! Trucks will always be around and those who use them industriously will have no problem buying them and filling their tanks. Who isn't buying pickup trucks any more? Why, 95% of the previous buyers, that's who! My point was that people buying light trucks, SUVs, etc. for no practical purpose (aside from the ego boost) are giving them up thanks to the price of gas. Making a rational decision to buy a more efficient car is what has resulted in an epic collapse of the truck market in the US. That, in a nutshell, is the silver lining on the oil crisis. Hell, you guys who use them for practical purposes should be thanking Jesus too, since you can now buy them for cheaper than ever before.

If it makes any of you feel better *I* still get pissed off at paying for gas. This is a flame-worthy statement, but the one good thing that is coming from the past few years of expensive gas is the complete decimation of the 'light truck' market in the US. People ARE waking up and realizing that driving a pickup truck 40 miles to work every day is a damn stupid idea. Ford wrote off $8,000,000,000 in inventory last quarter thanks to Joe Sixpack finally getting his head out of his ass and opting for a sedan instead of a pickup. U S A! U S A!

It's true that a lot of people take work matters too seriously but on the other side of the coin are the people who use that as an excuse to get away with whatever they want since it's "not to be taken seriously".

I'm not going to insist my anecdotal evidence is anything to write a book about, but in my work experience I have ran into just as many lousy women as I have men. Workplace anxiety typically comes from one of two things: abuse of power (in the case that the person has subordinates) and poor work ethic (in the case that the person doesn't have subordinates.) I have had a variety of coworkers and superiors who were women and have concluded that aside from the inescapable societal gender roles (women being nurturers, men being providers) there isn't much else that divides us (except for being able to move heavy things or reach the top shelf of the supply closet.) This has applied to both women I worked with and women I worked for, sure some were lousy but they are just as likely to have flawed character as a man is. I think if you take a look at how our genders differ in society as a whole, you will understand why women don't behave exactly the same as men do. You will further discover that this is an inevitable fact, since we have spent the past thousand years or so carrying this tradition, and it's not likely to stop soon. There will always be lousy people (of either gender) out to ruin your day. It only becomes your problem if you let it.

True that. Every year earlier you start is more time you can enjoy with your grandkids. If you are on your way by 25 and save smart there's no reason you can't retire by 55. What our generation has to worry about (those of us with parents retired or a few yrs from retiring) is how we will tell them nicely that they can't live off social security any more. A lot of people are getting ready to retire that are NOT in any way prepared for it, they worked their whole lives under the impression that either SS or a company pension was going to take care of them, and pretty soon even if they are lucky and get both they will be kissing it all goodbye on health care and utility bills.

That was just a bit Non sequitur but I LOLed for about a minute anyway. I especially like how he's putting sunglasses on his sunglasses...

The thread topic preview was listed as "What would you pay to watch...". I was sorely disappointed upon arrival. If you don't like to listen to other people yap during a movie, go to a better theater (read: one not in the ghetto) and/or go at a different time (read: on a weekday night when the kids don't show up in mobs.) I follow these simple rules; and while it isn't always effective for the first day of new releases, I am rarely disappointed by the $3.50 I spend on a ticket at the local theater.

So the 5ghz band is good again? I thought that got beat up too much due to poor range, it seems like no one wants to use it despite being commercially viable for almost as long as 11b. It certainly has better spectrum usage, but what good is that when the signal can't get as far? I have an a/b/g router, G is the only thing i use and I can't imagine a time when I needed a faster link. I guess maybe if I had to download more than one movie at a time, it might help.

Ah the wisdom of age

The story I heard was that GE bought those stores outright in 2004, from what I remember they were all open for business up until then. Source?

And you filled your pantry for $1400 (the amount required to get a 2.80/gal discount on gas.) I live within walking distance of both a Meijer and Giant Eagle, and after shopping at both for a fair share I can say hands down that if I spent $1316 at Meijer it would go a LOT farther than $1400 would at Giant Eagle (the discount you earned by spending $1400 was $84.) Same goes for Kroger, they both tease you with that petty little gas discount and make up for it times ten when they get you to buy food there. Consumer awareness is a good thing! Tile floors and fancy aprons be damned, I am going to fill my pantry with the best priced food, it all comes from the same place. edit: Oh yeah, almost forgot Giant Eagle was on my lifetime shitlist ever since they bought out Big Bear and proceeded to close the Mill Run and Roberts Rd stores, pin down the buildings (stopping any redevelopment,) thus causing the shopping plazas to turn into vacant scars on my city.

If the thought is "hmm maybe i should wear a belt instead of letting my pants fall down" the gov't should be able to impress that on anyone it likes. Kids who don't understand the basics of belt wearing (apparently due to the neglect of their parents) need to learn it from somewhere, or else they will spend their whole lives pretending to be crack dealers and working second shift at mcdonalds. Sagging is yet another 'race to the bottom' where the stupidest kid of the group gets the most respect (see Idiocracy for the implications of this.) I am 27, does that make me old enough to yell at youngsters to "dress like a grown up and get a real job"? The real problem is I don't want my chicken sandwich and fries handled by someone who stops every 5 minutes to adjust their pants.

It's finally clear (to me at least). The 'Core' PS3 which now has a 40gb HDD will soon be upgraded to a 80GB HDD. The current 80GB version will continue to be the upgraded version (namely more usb ports and backwards compatibility,) and it will be $100 more. There is no real price drop, there is a (minor) feature upgrade to the current 'core' model.

The first 80gb NTSC version of the PS3 still supports PS2 emulation and is still being sold. It has 4 usb ports instead of the 2 ports on the upcoming, non-compatible 80gb NTSC version. *This information subject to change, its not like i'm the president of sony or something.