Stephen <mcavoys_at@aoldotcom> wrote:
> On 28/04/2012 11:16 AM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> > OK, so in a few hours I'm driving to Berkshire. And then tomorrow, I
> > dance in the regional qualifiers for this year's IDTA national dance
> > competition.
> >
> > NOT NERVOUS AT ALL. >_<

> Break a leg.

  Wikipedia has this to say: Among professional dancers, the traditional
phrase is not "break a leg", but "merde".

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 29/04/2012 1:20 PM, Warp wrote:
> Stephen<mcavoys_at@aoldotcom>  wrote:
>
>> Break a leg.
>
>    Wikipedia has this to say: Among professional dancers, the traditional
> phrase is not "break a leg", but "merde".
>

I did not know that, thanks.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 4/29/2012 5:20, Warp wrote:
>    Wikipedia has this to say: Among professional dancers, the traditional
> phrase is not "break a leg", but "merde".

I have a co-worker who said to a friend "I'll cross my fingers and wish you 
luck!"  Said friend got all upset, because not being a native english 
speaker, the only "cross your fingers" idiom she knew of was crossing your 
fingers behind your back.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
   "Don't panic. There's beans and filters
    in the cabinet."

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On Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:59:22 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 29/04/2012 1:20 PM, Warp wrote:
>> Stephen<mcavoys_at@aoldotcom>  wrote:
>>
>>> Break a leg.
>>
>>    Wikipedia has this to say: Among professional dancers, the
>>    traditional
>> phrase is not "break a leg", but "merde".
>>
>>
> I did not know that, thanks.

That explains something from The Producers that I'd wondered about....

Jim

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On 28/04/2012 11:16 AM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> OK, so in a few hours I'm driving to Berkshire. And then tomorrow, I
> dance in the regional qualifiers for this year's IDTA national dance
> competition.
>
> NOT NERVOUS AT ALL. >_<

A whole weekend of stress, sleep deprivation, dehydration, fasting and 
standing around waiting. I don't feel too good today, actually.

We found out last week that we qualified for the IDTA national finals in 
Blackpool. (They take the 10 best couples. On Wednesday they put up the 
entry sheet, showing that only 5 couples entered in our category.) So 
that leaves only the South East Area Medallist event to worry about.

Last year me and Lynn got 6th place. However, having just completed my 
Gold Bar 1 exam (with honours, no less), we are now in a higher 
category, which has more entrants. The group were two heats, a 
semi-final and then the final. We made it to the semi-final, but did not 
make it to the final.

(Nicole is actually quite annoyed about that, since the final consisted 
of 5 really good dancers, plus one couple who were pretty rubbish. She 
feels that should have been us, not them. But hey, it's not all about 
skill; a good amount of /luck/ comes into it too. I guess we were just 
unlucky.)

Anyway, now it's Monday morning, and our main server has suffered a 
mysterious disk anomaly, which means the server is no longer 
functioning. No big deal, you know... >_<

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Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public 
changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A TOWEL. 
What do you do? O_O

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On 30/04/2012 11:19 AM, Invisible wrote:
> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A TOWEL.
> What do you do? O_O

How can you go into the showers without getting your soap/shampoo and 
towel out of your bag first?

That being the case you should have run about screaming "A spider! A 
spider" until you were dry.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 30/04/2012 12:10 PM, Stephen wrote:
> On 30/04/2012 11:19 AM, Invisible wrote:
>> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
>> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A TOWEL.
>> What do you do? O_O
>
> How can you go into the showers without getting your soap/shampoo and
> towel out of your bag first?

I only ever shower inside my own house. Which, obviously, means a 
limitless supply of towels.

This is the first time in 25 years that I've had a shower in a public place.

> That being the case you should have run about screaming "A spider! A
> spider" until you were dry.

As if I wasn't /already/ getting enough strange looks...

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On 30/04/2012 12:18 PM, Invisible wrote:
> I only ever shower inside my own house. Which, obviously, means a
> limitless supply of towels.
>

What about last year? Did you drive home without showering? Euch!

> This is the first time in 25 years that I've had a shower in a public
> place.
>
>> That being the case you should have run about screaming "A spider! A
>> spider" until you were dry.
>
> As if I wasn't /already/ getting enough strange looks...

So people will think that you are a wimp instead of a fool and you will 
be dry.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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>> I only ever shower inside my own house. Which, obviously, means a
>> limitless supply of towels.
>
> What about last year? Did you drive home without showering? Euch!

If you mean the ski trip, no. I had a shower in the privacy of our hotel 
room. And that /also/ had a limitless supply of towels.

>>> That being the case you should have run about screaming "A spider! A
>>> spider" until you were dry.
>>
>> As if I wasn't /already/ getting enough strange looks...
>
> So people will think that you are a wimp instead of a fool and you will
> be dry.

They'll think I'm schizophrenic when they figure out that there isn't a 
spider. :-P

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On 30/04/2012 12:35 PM, Invisible wrote:
>> What about last year? Did you drive home without showering? Euch!
>
> If you mean the ski trip, no. I had a shower in the privacy of our hotel
> room. And that /also/ had a limitless supply of towels.
>

No, when you went to the dancing competition, last year. (And I noticed 
"our hotel room". ;-)

>
> They'll think I'm schizophrenic when they figure out that there isn't a
> spider. :-P

You will be long gone by then. Or in the confusion you could "borrow" 
someone else's towel.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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>>> What about last year? Did you drive home without showering? Euch!
>>
>> If you mean the ski trip, no. I had a shower in the privacy of our hotel
>> room. And that /also/ had a limitless supply of towels.
>
> No, when you went to the dancing competition, last year.

Oh, right. In that case, no.

> (And I noticed "our hotel room". ;-)

It's no secret that I was on a ski trip with several other people. It's 
not like I can afford to go by myself. Plus I don't speak French. 
(Unless you count knowing what "voulez-vous danser avec moi ce soir?" 
means as "speaking French". :-P )

>> They'll think I'm schizophrenic when they figure out that there isn't a
>> spider. :-P
>
> You will be long gone by then. Or in the confusion you could "borrow"
> someone else's towel.

Yeah, right. :-P

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On 30/04/2012 1:00 PM, Invisible wrote:
>
> It's no secret that I was on a ski trip with several other people. It's
> not like I can afford to go by myself. Plus I don't speak French.
> (Unless you count knowing what "voulez-vous danser avec moi ce soir?"
> means as "speaking French". :-P )
>

You're English and as everyone knows. The way to speak French is to 
speak English but LOUD. ;-)

>>> They'll think I'm schizophrenic when they figure out that there isn't a
>>> spider. :-P
>>
>> You will be long gone by then. Or in the confusion you could "borrow"
>> someone else's towel.
>
> Yeah, right. :-P

Well it was a thought.
Personally I would have skimmed the water off with my hands then used my 
dancing clothes to finish off. Unless you were wearing sequins.

So what did you do?

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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> You're English and as everyone knows. The way to speak French is to
> speak English but LOUD. ;-)

That would be funny if it wasn't true...

If my AI lecturer was anything to go by, if you're from Estonia and your 
students don't understand what "nabl" is, the thing to do is repeat the 
same sentence you just said, but louder. >_<

> Personally I would have skimmed the water off with my hands then used my
> dancing clothes to finish off. Unless you were wearing sequins.

No sequins yet, just Spandex(tm). ;-)

> So what did you do?

Cover my entire body in toilet paper. (This takes a surprisingly long 
time, by the way.) That and limbo dance under the hand drier...

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On 30/04/2012 1:27 PM, Invisible wrote:
>> You're English and as everyone knows. The way to speak French is to
>> speak English but LOUD. ;-)
>
> That would be funny if it wasn't true...
>
> If my AI lecturer was anything to go by, if you're from Estonia and your
> students don't understand what "nabl" is, the thing to do is repeat the
> same sentence you just said, but louder. >_<
>
The same the whole world over. :-)

>> Personally I would have skimmed the water off with my hands then used my
>> dancing clothes to finish off. Unless you were wearing sequins.
>
> No sequins yet, just Spandex(tm). ;-)
>

The mind boggles.

>> So what did you do?
>
> Cover my entire body in toilet paper. (This takes a surprisingly long
> time, by the way.) That and limbo dance under the hand drier...

And that did not attract attention?

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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>> No sequins yet, just Spandex(tm). ;-)
>
> The mind boggles.

I bought a red shirt. I thought it was cotton, but it isn't. It's 97% 
cotton, and 3% spandex. ;-)

>>> So what did you do?
>>
>> Cover my entire body in toilet paper. (This takes a surprisingly long
>> time, by the way.) That and limbo dance under the hand drier...
>
> And that did not attract attention?

No. The walls prevent that.

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On 30/04/2012 2:09 PM, Invisible wrote:
> I bought a red shirt. I thought it was cotton, but it isn't. It's 97%
> cotton, and 3% spandex. ;-)

Not a bad idea for dancing.
I was hoping to say "big girl's blouse" but I don't suppose I can now. ;-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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>> I bought a red shirt. I thought it was cotton, but it isn't. It's 97%
>> cotton, and 3% spandex. ;-)
>
> Not a bad idea for dancing.

I only bought it because the picture looked good on Amazon. (Of course, 
Amazon didn't mention the £15 import tax, or the fact that it's mailed 
from South Korea...)

> I was hoping to say "big girl's blouse" but I don't suppose I can now. ;-)

Well, a blouse is merely a shirt worn by a girl, right? This shirt would 
probably look good on a girl. Not a girly girl, though.

As an aside, if YOU think you have the nerve to stand up in front of 800 
people and dance your arse off, be my frigging guest. :-P

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On 30/04/2012 2:29 PM, Invisible wrote:

>
> I only bought it because the picture looked good on Amazon. (Of course,
> Amazon didn't mention the £15 import tax, or the fact that it's mailed
> from South Korea...)
>

I remember you saying.

>> I was hoping to say "big girl's blouse" but I don't suppose I can now.
>> ;-)
>
> Well, a blouse is merely a shirt worn by a girl, right? This shirt would
> probably look good on a girl. Not a girly girl, though.
>

A "big girl's blouse" is a northern saying. And it doesn't mean what you 
think it does.

> As an aside, if YOU think you have the nerve to stand up in front of 800
> people and dance your arse off, be my frigging guest. :-P

Ooo! Get you.

I give you lots of credit for it. More power to your elbow.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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> A "big girl's blouse" is a northern saying. And it doesn't mean what you
> think it does.

You keep using that meme. I do not think it memes what you think it memes.

>> As an aside, if YOU think you have the nerve to stand up in front of 800
>> people and dance your arse off, be my frigging guest. :-P
>
> Ooo! Get you.

I'm no big girl's blouse. ;-)

> I give you lots of credit for it. More power to your elbow.

My elbow has already destroyed one life. :-S Hopefully they'll be no 
more of that!

The real test is Blackpool, of course...

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On 30-4-2012 12:19, Invisible wrote:
> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A TOWEL.
> What do you do? O_O

Obligatory reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_FnZ_mXDhs

and beware of May 25th


-- 
tip: do not run in an unknown place when it is too dark to see the 
floor, unless you prefer to not use uppercase.

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On 30/04/2012 09:56 PM, andrel wrote:
> On 30-4-2012 12:19, Invisible wrote:
>> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
>> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A TOWEL.
>> What do you do? O_O
>
> Obligatory reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_FnZ_mXDhs

Yeah, oddly enough, that's the third thing that occurred to me...

> and beware of May 25th

Why?

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On 30/04/2012 10:04 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 30/04/2012 09:56 PM, andrel wrote:
>
>> and beware of May 25th
>
> Why?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 30-4-2012 23:04, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 30/04/2012 09:56 PM, andrel wrote:
>> On 30-4-2012 12:19, Invisible wrote:
>>> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
>>> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A TOWEL.
>>> What do you do? O_O
>>
>> Obligatory reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_FnZ_mXDhs
>
> Yeah, oddly enough, that's the third thing that occurred to me...
>
>> and beware of May 25th
>
> Why?

because I wanted to know if you would think of looking at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_25

and you didn't, but we do have Stephen.


-- 
tip: do not run in an unknown place when it is too dark to see the 
floor, unless you prefer to not use uppercase.

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On 4/30/2012 2:33, Invisible wrote:
> entry sheet, showing that only 5 couples entered in our category.

> Last year me and Lynn got 6th place.

Cool. Let's hope you do better this year. ;-)

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
   "Don't panic. There's beans and filters
    in the cabinet."

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On 4/30/2012 4:10, Stephen wrote:
> That being the case you should have run about screaming "A spider! A spider"
> until you were dry.

+1

I was going to try to come up with something funny, but I won't bother now.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
   "Don't panic. There's beans and filters
    in the cabinet."

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On 4/30/2012 5:27, Invisible wrote:
> That and limbo dance under the hand drier...

Bdbdbdbupbudupbudpubpdub!

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
   "Don't panic. There's beans and filters
    in the cabinet."

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>> So what did you do?
>
> Cover my entire body in toilet paper. (This takes a surprisingly long
> time, by the way.) That and limbo dance under the hand drier...

In case you were wondering - no, this didn't actually *work*.

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On 01/05/2012 1:16 AM, Darren New wrote:
> On 4/30/2012 4:10, Stephen wrote:
>> That being the case you should have run about screaming "A spider! A
>> spider"
>> until you were dry.
>
> +1
>
> I was going to try to come up with something funny, but I won't bother now.
>

Gee, thanks, my first +1. :-D

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 30/04/2012 10:38 PM, andrel wrote:
> because I wanted to know if you would think of looking at:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_25
>
> and you didn't, but we do have Stephen.

I resemble that! (I love Mrs Malaprop. ;-) )

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Invisible escreveu:
> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public 
> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A TOWEL. 
> What do you do? O_O

I put on my clothes.

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Le 02/05/2012 22:37, nemesis nous fit lire :
> Invisible escreveu:
>> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
>> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A
>> TOWEL. What do you do? O_O
> 
> I put on my clothes.

I put on my clothes after a few moments idle in the shower without flow.

And I'm then glad to not be too hairy, as water will fall down alone.
(ok, I cheat, I use my hands too)

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>> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
>> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A
>> TOWEL. What do you do? O_O
>
> I put on my clothes.

Then get in the car, turn on the fans, and drive for 86 miles.

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On 03/05/2012 09:06 AM, scott wrote:
>>> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
>>> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A
>>> TOWEL. What do you do? O_O
>>
>> I put on my clothes.
>
> Then get in the car, turn on the fans, and drive for 86 miles.

Screw fans, turn the air conditioning on! ;-)

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On 03/05/2012 9:46 AM, Invisible wrote:
> Screw fans

No! Probably a Centrifugal fan. :-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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> Screw fans, turn the air conditioning on! ;-)

I thought it was only cars that cost at least half a million pounds that 
have air conditioning in them? And that you wouldn't know anyone or ever 
have been in a car with air conditioning?

Post a reply to this message

On 03/05/2012 10:14 AM, scott wrote:
>> Screw fans, turn the air conditioning on! ;-)
>
> I thought it was only cars that cost at least half a million pounds that
> have air conditioning in them? And that you wouldn't know anyone or ever
> have been in a car with air conditioning?

Touché!

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On Thu, 03 May 2012 09:46:47 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>  turn the air conditioning on! ;-)

Hmm, wet + cold = hypothermia.

No thanks. :)

Jim

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scott escreveu:
>>> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
>>> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A
>>> TOWEL. What do you do? O_O
>>
>> I put on my clothes.
> 
> Then get in the car, turn on the fans, and drive for 86 miles.

ah, I'm from Brazil. ;)

-- 
a game sig: http://tinyurl.com/d3rxz9

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On 5/3/2012 8:45, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Thu, 03 May 2012 09:46:47 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>
>>   turn the air conditioning on! ;-)
>
> Hmm, wet + cold = hypothermia.

I once got caught in a Rain Storm. A friend and I road-tripped from 
Philadelphia to Washington DC. (About a 3-hour drive, for our foreign 
friends.) We parked on the street, went and looked at things, and by the 
time it was time to head home, it was Raining. With a capital R. I mean, we 
were looking for the car, and we couldn't find it, because there was quite 
literally so much water in the air between head height and street-sign 
height that one could not read the signs. We couldn't have been more wet had 
we been thrown a swimming pool. Our underwear was soaked. We stopped 
bothering to step over rain gutters because our shoes couldn't possibly get 
wetter.

After wandering about 20 minutes in this, we found the car. A big old 
Lincoln, like they made when gas was $0.35/gallon. Now, this was my mom's 
car at the time, which means my dad, the auto mechanic, had been maintaining 
it. Which means that when the heater switch broke, he installed a light 
switch in its place. There was no temperature knob. The heat was on, or off. 
Which meant that the interior of the car was about 90 degrees (that's 33C to 
the rest of you) in about 5 minutes. Toasty!

I still believe I'm alive today, 30 years later, due to that light switch 
under the dashboard. My friend still mentions it occasionally to this day.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
   "Don't panic. There's beans and filters
    in the cabinet."

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>>   turn the air conditioning on! ;-)
>
> Hmm, wet + cold = hypothermia.
>
> No thanks. :)

In all cars I've been in you can use the air-con with heat, not just 
cool.  In winter it is much more effective at demisting the windows if 
you the A/C turned on (along with heat), especially if the occupants are 
wet.

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On 03/05/2012 10:14 AM, scott wrote:
>> Screw fans, turn the air conditioning on! ;-)
>
> I thought it was only cars that cost at least half a million pounds that
> have air conditioning in them? And that you wouldn't know anyone or ever
> have been in a car with air conditioning?

That certainly *was* the case once. Curiously, while A/C and electric 
windows used to be expensive luxuries that nobody but the Prime Minister 
could afford, today it seems that almost *every* car has these things. 
And I'm not sure how that happened... Presumably it still costs exactly 
the same amount of money to actually manufacture these things so...?

Post a reply to this message

Le 04/05/2012 09:54, Invisible a écrit :
> On 03/05/2012 10:14 AM, scott wrote:
>>> Screw fans, turn the air conditioning on! ;-)
>>
>> I thought it was only cars that cost at least half a million pounds that
>> have air conditioning in them? And that you wouldn't know anyone or ever
>> have been in a car with air conditioning?
> 
> That certainly *was* the case once. Curiously, while A/C and electric
> windows used to be expensive luxuries that nobody but the Prime Minister
> could afford, today it seems that almost *every* car has these things.
> And I'm not sure how that happened... Presumably it still costs exactly
> the same amount of money to actually manufacture these things so...?
> 


Manufacture, yes.
Conception, no.

In the production of cars, a significant amount of the price might be
due to the studies.
It uses to take 5 years to make a new car.
It means that if you produced only one item at the end, that item costed
5 years of salary of many peoples, at least.

Notice that the actual assembly does not take 5 years. It's only a tiny
fraction of the full time.

For instance, ferrari/lamborghini/... are producing in the range of 1
car a working day (or alike), whereas Renauld/Nissan/Citroen/Toyota are
producing probably in the range of 1 car every minutes.

Assuming you have a yearly model change, the former have 200 cars to get
back the cost of the studies, the latter have 100000 cars for that.

Assumes you have a low cost of studies at 10 Millions ($,€ or £) for the
5 years (very small budget).
The minimal price (not including the actual material of each car) would be:
* 50000 for the former
* 100 for the latter

Then you can add the price for the material & manufacturing.

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> That certainly *was* the case once. Curiously, while A/C and electric
> windows used to be expensive luxuries that nobody but the Prime Minister
> could afford, today it seems that almost *every* car has these things.
> And I'm not sure how that happened...

It happens with everything in cars.  Electric mirrors, tape players, CD 
players, MP3 capability, bluetooth, LCD display in instrument cluster, 
ABS, traction control, stability control, flat-tyre sensors, rain 
sensors, navigation, power steering, fuel injection ... the list is 
endless and will continue to grow.

> Presumably it still costs exactly
> the same amount of money to actually manufacture these things so...?

At the beginning manufacturing costs are negligible, you're paying for 
the development costs (maybe the car maker is in partnership with one 
particular supplier to develop the technology).  After several car 
cycles (decades) eventually you'll get to the stage where there are no 
further development costs - where you (as the car maker) have the choice 
of 100 different suppliers all making the same part and selling it 
barely above the manufacturing costs.

Post a reply to this message

On 04/05/2012 11:14 AM, scott wrote:

> It happens with everything in cars. Electric mirrors, tape players, CD
> players, MP3 capability, bluetooth, LCD display in instrument cluster,
> ABS, traction control, stability control, flat-tyre sensors, rain
> sensors, navigation, power steering, fuel injection ... the list is
> endless and will continue to grow.

And here I was thinking that they just make the same cars over and over 
again...

> At the beginning manufacturing costs are negligible, you're paying for
> the development costs. After several car cycles
> (decades) eventually you'll get to the stage where there are no further
> development costs.

Cars actually advance noticeably in a 10-year period? Not, like, a 
40-year period or something?

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Le 2012-05-04 08:12, Invisible a écrit :
> On 04/05/2012 11:14 AM, scott wrote:
>
>> It happens with everything in cars. Electric mirrors, tape players, CD
>> players, MP3 capability, bluetooth, LCD display in instrument cluster,
>> ABS, traction control, stability control, flat-tyre sensors, rain
>> sensors, navigation, power steering, fuel injection ... the list is
>> endless and will continue to grow.
>
> And here I was thinking that they just make the same cars over and over
> again...
>
>> At the beginning manufacturing costs are negligible, you're paying for
>> the development costs. After several car cycles
>> (decades) eventually you'll get to the stage where there are no further
>> development costs.
>
> Cars actually advance noticeably in a 10-year period? Not, like, a
> 40-year period or something?

Twenty years ago, in car CD players were almost unheard of.  ABS braking 
was reserved to luxury vehicles.  Driver-side airbags were starting to 
be more common.  You could still buy a car with a carburetor.

Ten years ago, not all cars had CD players, passenger-side airbags were 
now more common.  Electronic fuel injection was now the norm.  Most cars 
now had ABS brakes, but it was still used by the marketing dept as a 
selling point.  Hybrid cars were a curiosity.

Today, most cars NO LONGER have CD players, all cars have 6 to 8 air 
bags, GPS systems, keyless entry, same, better fuel efficiency, better 
traction control, braking, automated parking, etc...

Car maker NEED to find new things to entice the consumers to buy a new 
car every 3 or 4 year, or they'd be going out of business faster than 
they already are.

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/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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> And here I was thinking that they just make the same cars over and over
> again...

The worrying thing is that I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not :-)

> Cars actually advance noticeably in a 10-year period? Not, like, a
> 40-year period or something?

Well I guess if you don't notice things like dual-clutch transmissions, 
better fuel economy, lower CO2 emissions, USB sockets, bluetooth, 
navigation, keyless start/entry, HUDs, run-flat tyres etc then no, you 
won't notice anything changed over the last 10 years.

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On 5/4/2012 1:16, Le_Forgeron wrote:
> It means that if you produced only one item at the end, that item costed
> 5 years of salary of many peoples, at least.

Cars and CPUs are both in the same range: About half the total end-user cost 
over the lifetime of the design goes into the design, and half into the 
manufacturing and distributing the rest.

Which is to say, when that new x64 CPU comes out, the first one costs half 
of all the money they'll ever collect in selling them, and all the others 
combined cost the other half.

That's why you see things like ARM cores, PCI boards, built-in devices 
connected via USB, and so on. It tremendously reduces the cost of production.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
   "Don't panic. There's beans and filters
    in the cabinet."

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On 3-5-2012 10:46, Invisible wrote:
> On 03/05/2012 09:06 AM, scott wrote:
>>>> Pop quiz: You're 86 miles from home, you're in the shower in a public
>>>> changing room, when you suddenly remember that YOU DO NOT HAVE A
>>>> TOWEL. What do you do? O_O
>>>
>>> I put on my clothes.
>>
>> Then get in the car, turn on the fans, and drive for 86 miles.
>
> Screw fans, turn the air conditioning on! ;-)
>
Screw fans? are that metal fans with a very limited taste?


-- 
tip: do not run in an unknown place when it is too dark to see the 
floor, unless you prefer to not use uppercase.

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On Fri, 04 May 2012 08:44:06 +0100, scott wrote:

>> Hmm, wet + cold = hypothermia.
>>
>> No thanks. :)
> 
> In all cars I've been in you can use the air-con with heat, not just
> cool.
>  In winter it is much more effective at demisting the windows if you the
> A/C turned on (along with heat), especially if the occupants are wet.

I grew up in Minnesota - so yes, I know about running the AC and the 
heater to dry the air out to keep the windows fogging up.

I was being somewhat silly. :)

Jim

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