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Am I the only one here who knew this thread was about Mark's computer? The title caught my attention, but once I saw that Mark was the author, I knew he was fine, but suspected the worst about his computer. My condolences, Mark, on losing an old friend. No matter how many times this happens...

If this happened in the US, they probably would sue whatever group is responsible for tracking near Earth objects. Not that you could track every rock in the sky anyway, but the lawyers would still proceed with such an unreasonable lawsuit, and a stupid jury would probably actually award money.

The ones by me are OK. I'll admit that the generic colas taste the worst but I don't drink cola anyway. I guess so. I didn't know who Christina Aguilera was until I saw her at the 2002 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies, believe it or not. She's just another Britney Spears knockoff(or vice...

Well, that's true. The thing is when I talk about astronomy I usually tend to use the words "a bit" unless one thing is larger than another by an order of magnitude. Two orders of magnitude is much larger, etc. This is because there is such a huge range of scale once you study the universe...

That's true, but the diameter is also a bit larger. The escape velocity of a planet is proportional to the mass and inversely proportional to the radius. In fact, the equation is Vesc = (2 * G * M / r)1/2 Here's a table of planetary properties: Note that the escape velocity for Mars is 5...

Shows how much attention I pay to advertising. I knew she was doing commercials for one of the two big soft drink companies, so I figured I had a 50% chance of getting it right. :wink: Oh well. Win some, lose some.

I think GE would get the nod. Not everyone likes or buys Coke, but nearly everyone uses electricity. I personally don't care for Coke or any cola. It doesn't agree with my digestive system, and with a name brand like Coke, you're paying twice what a generic store brand costs due to their...

That equation is only part of it. Here's something I found related to the discussion at hand: http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Boltzmann_distribution The Maxwell-Boltzman equations determine the distribution of velocities that gas molecules have at a given temperature. In case you can't follow...

That's not 100% true. There is a certain amount that goes into space, and the hotter the earth is, the greater the amount. Lighter gases, such as hydrogen, have long ago left the atmosphere except in trace amounts because the earth's gravity is too weak to hold them. The exact rate that a gas...

Tannin, Thanks for some very interesting reading and the history lesson. It sounds like a fun way to spend a weekend to me, and you're helping the ecosystem besides. Although I've never been to Oz, I know all about hard soils. Shortly after I got out of college, my mother and I got the idea...

P5-133XL, Thanks for your input on this topic. Interesting discussion. I just have a few minor points to address here: Yes, this is a good idea as well. I didn't suggest it because you mentioned that separating the children from their parents would be destructive. Just based on some...

I think everyone here is aware of that. The problem is that, despite welfare, the children of the poor are not given the tools to break the cycle of poverty, and thus parents on welfare frequently leads to the children being on welfare. To an extent, the system is set up this way(to encourage...

Thanks, Coug. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. :lol: :lol: :lol:

This guy makes Micheal Jackson look tame by comparison. P.S. It's one thing impersonating a cat online(as I do sometimes). Quite another to want to make yourself look like one. It must hurt like hell when he wipes his behind. :o

It is not be a lack of supply that will cause the sudden rise in prices, it will be a fairly quick spike in demand that occurs just at a time when oil is harder to find. India and China combined have over 2 billion people now, probably another billion in twenty years. They are rapidly becoming...

The whole point of a consumption tax is that it would permanently reduce revenue and force government to keep small, and that is why I'm in favor of it. I want to get rid of big government permanently. Putting aside the issue of welfare spending, why does the US need to spend as much on...

LPG is just another fossil fuel. Given the figures Mercutio quoted, it's doubtful the oil reserves in the Middle East will last even 25 years. Once China and India become more industrialized, oil prices will rapidly skyrocket as demand increases by tenfold. This will happen within two...

You mean you have to be able to go to 60 in a nanosecond? Fire up the warp drive, Scotty, I'll need warp 9 in two minutes! Seriously, I think you forgot to add how many seconds you considered unacceptable. I know all about New Jersey's highways. They're awfully designed outside of the...

Fair enough. I suggested that I could build something that works in my garage. It would take a design team and massive R&D $ to make something that could be mass produced. Regarding what the public wants, I tend to think the general public is easily influenced, so the automakers(and other...

:lol: :lol: :lol: (Sorry about the cheap way to up my post count, but I thought this was funny without adding any comments of my own)

Exactly, especially as regards the first point. LPG may not produce the noxious emissions of gasoline or diesel fuel, but it still produces CO2. While global warming due to CO2 is a source of debate, the other disadvantages you mentioned of using LPG are valid enough not to phase in its...

It's not what I feel is socially responsible, it's what must be done, period. Do you have any idea of the health costs caused by pollution, the damage acid rain causes to structures, the aggravation(road rage) caused by the sheer number of vehicles on the road? Truth be told, I would rather...

A lot of truth is that speech. Some of our leaders would be wise to read it.

I have one question about all this. I don't care how much people like SUVs, the simple fact is that they are irresponsible and the automakers should not be building them. If they didn't exist, people would buy something more sensible, and there is no reason at all why they should be exempt...

A consumption tax(sales tax) instead of an income tax is a good idea, and would receive popular support if: 1)It was at most 10%, not the 40% you mentioned, since that would create less incentive to evade it. Combined local and state sales taxes may not exceed a total of 5%, so at most you...

Too bad it's only a satire. I really wish legislators would actively try to discourage people ffrom purchasing SUVs. This line from that page sums it up beautifully: Since the fuel crisis in the 1970's, I would have expected cars to continually get more fuel efficient and less polluting, and...

No. It was second hand. In fact, until the 386 came out, I really didn't consider PCs to be anything more than expensive toys which were pretty limited in what they could do. The 386 was powerful enough that you could do a fair bit of useful stuff on it. The problem was, at the time it came...

Thanks for the tip, but I know those tricks like the back of my hand. :) Don't forget, I got started on PCs with a 386-40 in 1999, so I had to learn all that. I've gotten as much as 635K free with QEMM and DOS 5.0 on my 386. The machine I'm asking about has around 623K free in pure DOS mode...

My current "best" machine is a PII-450 running on an AX6B M/B(440BX chipset). DMA33 transfers work fine in Windows, but not in DOS. Yes, they are set in the CMOS but apparently that doesn't make them active unless the appropriate driver is loaded. Why do I even care if I have Ultra33...

Yep, I'm always the skeptic. :wink: Fill er up with heavy cream, please, Bartender. Meooow, yummy! :D

I'm not old enough to remember any of those things, but they certainly sound nice. Of course, we all tend to remember only the good when reminiscing about the past.

Technically it is. I think it falls under the "evading sales tax" law. It also just about unenforceable, so I'm sure this is exactly what many smokers will do. The cops have better things to do right now than catch trucks filled with bootleg cigarettes, although they may from time to time...

What about health problems the smoker suffers prior to croaking? These include more missed days from work than non-smokers, and sometimes being unable to do their job(especially if it is physical), and then being reassigned to a less productive job, or perhaps even being eligible to collect...

Pitchblend is uranium ore. BTW, do we really need any more reasons for people not to smoke? I'm glad NYC is getting even tougher on smokers. They just raised the cigarette tax to $5/pack(until neighboring states, or better yet the whole country, follows suit this will just mean many smokers...

Umm, Vlad The Impaler wrote that post, but I have a Persian cousin named Suzette(nickname Suzi) that was also rescued from outside. Plus two others(Tiger and Lucky) who were also rescued from a neighbors lawn when their mother abandoned them. The cat in JTR's avatar(who occasionally borrows...

When I first went on line in June of 2000 I was interested in learning as much about computers as I could, so I jumped to many sites. Storage always interested me, and I regularly looked at a few different sites, but I thought SR was the most professional. At first I only looked at the hard...

I have a 386-40 that I use very occasionally. I actually "upgraded" it with some parts from eBay-a 40 MHz Math Coprocessor and a Cyrix 486 upgrade. My everyday machines are a P200 MMX and a PII-450(looking to upgrade with a PIII-800 or 850 processor, if I can get one cheap). I also have a...

BTW, here's what real men drive:

Hideous. Absolutely hideous. :o That's even uglier than Jason's SUV. :lol: :mrgrn: :lol:

If the HD is >528MB then that is likely the reason the BIOS doesn't see all of it. IIRC, any machine made in 1994 or earlier can't read any HD greater than 1024 cyl, 16 hd, 63 sec, which works out to 528MB, or 504 MB if you prefer to use the more common, but technically incorrect 1 MB=10^20...

I believe most people here assumed that the question was asked in the context of non-arranged marriages and non-consensual affairs. In the very limited circumstances you mention, an affair is acceptable, even desirable, in order to ensure the emotional health of the King/Queen. However...

Thanks, Tea. :) I always like hearing the primate's point of view on many topics. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about Jake at first, though(I didn't want to end up as an entree, you know :o ). Now that I know him better and realize he's not interested in me as an appetizer, Jake seems...

No, it is inexcusable, period. In fact, I consider it unacceptable to cheat in a long-term relationship even if you're not married(since we felines can't legally get married I have to feel this way 8) ). Anyone unhappy in a marriage should get a divorce first. I think there's so many...

I'm probably a little late with this reply, but I would imagine a higher speed processor would draw more power, and the voltages for the processor are made directly on the MB by stepping down the 3.3V or 5V from the power supply. All MBs use switching rather than linear power supplies for this...

Amaretto is pretty good. Just have a very small glass and you won't get drunk on it, either. And that's coming from someone who gets drunk on one beer. :lol: I'm a very occasional drinker. Maybe I'll have a half dozen beers in the course of the summer, so my alcohol tolerance is near...

Cliptin, Thanks for mentioning that we met in person. You beat me to it. I think we had a pretty good time that day too. :)

Now that never happened to me. I guess when it rains it pours. If nothing else, you meet a lot of people on a job like that, and you can always use the standard "I'm not allowed to fraternize with passengers" line if you're not interested, or if you are, you just quietly slip them your number. :)

Maybe he's adopted? :lol: I would have no trouble believing its-fubar or Trinton Azaleth was related to The Giver, but not Koggit. Who would have known?

It is more interesting if you have differences, although I suppose if you're too different then it won't work. My parents are a perfect example of exact opposites, and they fight all the time. I don't think liking a certain physical type is shallow, Mercutio. Some people can get turned on by...

I agree. I assume you mean by girls you weren't interested in, and not guys. :) I've never been approached by a guy, thankfully. I'm not quite sure exactly how I'd deal with that, especially if he was bigger/stronger than me, and pushing the issue.