"Phil Cook" <phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote in message 
news:op.t8a7bll0c3xi7v@news.povray.org...
> I'm getting a tad fed-up of my clutch-cable snapping Matiz. I know a new 
> smaller model of the Mazda2 is out, which suggests the older model should 
> be getting a price decrease; so anyone here had any experience with the 
> make or model?

The Mazda2 in South Africa was only released last year and was awarded car 
of the year here. So I think it must be worth it.


-- 
-Nekar Xenos-

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And lo on Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:09:05 -0000, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>  
did spake, saying:

> Orchid XP v7 wrote:
>> BTW, what the hell does "upside the head" actually *mean* anyway??
>
> It's a polite way of saying "bitch-slap."  ;-)

I'd go with Ben's meaning. Remember when you were young and if you were  
caught doing something you shouldn't your mum would cuff you on the back  
of the head; likewise if you weren't paying attention.

tum-ti-tum ah urban dictionary "an attitude adjustment"

As for the song itself I'm guessing a American (c)Rap artist maybe Jay-Z  
or Snoop Doggy Dogg given the time frame, not my choice of music.

tum-ti-tum SnoopDD had a single called Upside your head in 1996

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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And lo on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:48:42 -0000, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>  
did spake, saying:

> Invisible wrote:
>> It even claims to have RAID. (But I wouldn't trust that as far as I  
>> could throw it!)
>
> I want to know why every one of our three different types of servers at  
> work (everything from a now-ancient PC to a cutting edge Dell Poweredge)  
> has hot-swap drives, and every one of them requires you to boot into the  
> BIOS at the console in order to change a drive. (Well, the Dells do. The  
> others just need a power cycle.) Why bother making it "hot-swap" if you  
> have to be physically present and out of the OS in order to swap it?  
> What's "hot" about that?

Because you don't have to interrupt the power supply :-P

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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>>> Right. Well to me, if the prices have different numbers of *digits* in 
>>> them, they're pretty damn far apart! ;-)
>>
>> That's why they sell stuff for $999 instead of $1000.
>
> Wow. I thought only the Americans did that crap. :-)  I don't remember 
> anything in Europe costing something other than a nice round number.

ALmost everything in the supermarkets here ends in a 9.  The salad I get is 
1.99, the carton of juice is 69, the bread roll is 19, the packet of 
chocolate is 1.29 etc.  But, the great thing is, those prices are the prices 
you pay at the till :-)  I still have memories of spending 5 minutes 
counting out all my leftover change in Chicago airport to exactly $4.39 (or 
whatever) to buy a meal from a fast-food place, only to be told I needed to 
pay $4.81 (even though the sign clearly said the meal was $4.39 in big 
writing).  Was a bit awkward.

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And lo on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:17:30 -0000, Orchid XP v7 <voi### [at] devnull>  
did spake, saying:

>>> Huh, you have a digital camcorder with no firewire socket?  Which one  
>>> is it?
>>  I couldn't tell you off the top of my head. I'll check when I get  
>> home...
>
> Canon DC201.

So it records straight to smallform DVDs... so transfer is accomplished by  
taking out the DVD and putting into the DVD player on your computer?

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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scott wrote:

> 
> The cheapest one on the UK site is the 116i for 16185 pounds.

I find it astounding that you can purchase *any* car from new at under 

tags...

>> If that's the case, why do all the people driving them act like they 
>> own the entire road network then? I always thought that the BMW 
>> drivers' massive superiority complex comes from the fact that the car 
>> costs as much as a small house...
> 
> Well it depends which model you get, like I said the cheapest is 16k, 
> but it's very easy to spend double that if you want a bigger one that's 
> a bit faster.

Mmm, I guess.

>> I wouldn't drive a Ford if you paid me. I have no idea what a Peugeot 
>> 407 is, but it sounds much more inviting...
> 
> The Ford Focus is actually a really nice car to drive, the handling is 
> great and everything seems of pretty high quality.  If you told me I had 
> 10k-15k to spend on a new car for my family, it would probably be my 
> choice.

Maybe I'm just baised. Every Ford I've ever seen has been so riddled 
with problems that I just want to get away from it as fast as humanly 
possible...

>> Well, I guess at 10k it might as well be 10,000k - either way I don't 
>> have that kind of money
> 
> But you said you spent 6k on your car.  10k isn't much different, in 5 
> or 10 years it's not going to be impossible that you might be thinking 
> of spending 10k on a car.

Oh, sure, it's only nearly *twice* as much. Not much different at all. ;-)

Still, I guess it I get a loan and spend 10 years paying it back I could 
theoretically do it...

>>  - but I find your statements extremely surprising. Cars contain 
>> *metal*, and metal is very expensive.
> 
> No it's not.  The cost of the actual metal is pretty much zero compared 
> to the other costs.

I always thought that this is why stuff is so much cheaper now. Not so 
long ago, everything was made of metal, and it was all very expensive. 
Today everything is made of plastic, and it's jaw-droppingly cheap. It's 
such an obvious correlation that it seems almost self-evident that the 
only possible explanation is that metal is expensive.

If metal isn't expensive, why do they insist on making *everything* of 
plastic? Even items that really *should* be made of metal?

> Designing a car that works is the expensive bit.  A 
> lot of people have absolutely no idea how much effort and how many 
> different companies and people are involved with designing something 
> like a car.  It usually takes around 6 years from concept to production 
> start, with literally hundreds of different companies involved.  It's 
> totally amazing that anything actually ever gets built.

But aren't cars rather like processors? Sure, it costs a lot to design 
one, but once it's designed you can just go on churning out copies of it 
forever. I mean, hell, when was the Ford Fiesta designed? And it's 
*still* on sale today! Surely they've more than recovered the original 
design costs by now?

>> Cars require extensive safety testing, and that's expensive.
> 
> Much cheaper nowadays with accurate computer simulations that don't need 
> a supercomputer.

Oh, I have no doubt. But still pretty damn expensive, I would think.

>> And few people make cars, so they can charge the earth for them. Why 
>> *wouldn't* they be expensive?
> 
> Actually lots of people make cars, especially in the high-volume 
> low-price market.

Really? Interesting...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Darren New wrote:
> Orchid XP v7 wrote:
>> BTW, what the hell does "upside the head" actually *mean* anyway??
> 
> It's a polite way of saying "bitch-slap."  ;-)

Haha!

As in "It takes 27 muscles in your face to frown, but it only takes 3 
muscles in your arm to BITCH-SLAP the person who's made you happy!" ? ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Darren New wrote:
> Orchid XP v7 wrote:
>> Hang on... 10 years ago, digital still cameras didn't exist,
> 
> I was wrong. I looked it up. It was 2000.  Still, the idea that 8 years 
> later you can't buy a computer that does video editing is ... wrong.

Well, I'm sure it's been *possible* to do it for a while. I'm debating 
when it became possible to do it without spending several years' wages. ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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47e23ede$1@news.povray.org...
> But aren't cars rather like processors? Sure, it costs a lot to design 
> one, but once it's designed you can just go on churning out copies of it 
> forever. I mean, hell, when was the Ford Fiesta designed? And it's *still* 
> on sale today! Surely they've more than recovered the original design 
> costs by now?

As Wikipedia humourously says, there's "no genetic links" between a 1976 
Fiesta and the latest model (which wasn't even supposed to be called 
Fiesta). "Fiesta" is a brand name that is kept for a series of cars aimed at 
the same market segment(s), and that are periodically redesigned, sometimes 
from the ground up.

G.


-- 
**********************
http://www.oyonale.com
**********************
- Graphic experiments
- POV-Ray, Cinema 4D and Poser computer art
- Posters

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And lo on Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:18:02 -0000, Nekar Xenos  
<nek### [at] gmailcom> did spake, saying:

>
> "Phil Cook" <phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote in message
> news:op.t8a7bll0c3xi7v@news.povray.org...
>> I'm getting a tad fed-up of my clutch-cable snapping Matiz. I know a new
>> smaller model of the Mazda2 is out, which suggests the older model  
>> should
>> be getting a price decrease; so anyone here had any experience with the
>> make or model?
>
> The Mazda2 in South Africa was only released last year and was awarded  
> car of the year here. So I think it must be worth it.

Interesting it's been out here since about 2003. Which Car magazine gave  
the previous model a Best Buy recommendation for the last two years, so  
that makes two yays thankyou. Trouble is the newer model is shorter and  
lighter, but slightly wider (which is a main concern depending on the  
width of the doors - narrow garage) and it's lost 20 litres in the boot.  
I'll have to see if I can get a test-dive over the weekend.

The other Best Buys were the Honda Jazz, except it "jiggles" on uneven  
surfaces so no way would that be good around my way; and the Toyota Yaris  
which lacks the boot space of even the new model Mazda2 while also being  
wider.

If anyone has any other suggestions I'll be welcome to hear them.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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