taks

the sony i linked to earlier in this thread is 1080p. i don't know if the larger ones are because best buy doesn't mention it for them, and i'm too lazy to look right now. the 50" model also comes with a built-in HD tuner, which is a plus. my current tv, however, is a 32" sony trinitron. it will be 11 years old in october. still has a great picture, but it loses its settings memory every couple months which is getting to be a hassle. i'm ready for an hdtv, and dish has a lot of digital programming for me to exploit. taks

you're starting out with a false premise that he did not have an impartial jury (your own guesses as to what the jury members were thinking don't count as exculpatory). given that he had some of the best legal minds in the country helping him, it's actually a better guess to claim the prosecution had a bad jury. the prosecution was far outgunned in this trial. that he was convicted was a sure indicator of how guilty he really was. taks

i've been studying all day. a quick glance says everything is fine... nothing to see here, move along. taks

yeah, i'm gonna make sure i get a 1080p. my dvd player is progressive, no need to waste it! of course, that adds considerably to the cost. taks

i have dragonshard. it is fair. there are some really cool aspects of the game, but in general, i'm not an RTS fan. in particular, managing large battles is not my forte (first ever RTS), so later in the game things get ugly. what is cool, however, is the dungeon crawling and semi-sort of quest solving. it's done rather well, and dungeons do look cool. definitely the most enjoyable part to me. the loot you find underneath helps you out above, plus there are quests that require a little of both. one day, i will finish it. probably not till after NWN2 passes through my man-cave, however. oh, for $10, i'd buy it even knowing what i know now. it's worth $10 for sure. taks

what sucks is that it doesn't have 1080p. taks

actually pretty cheap considering what it is. of course, it is sold out! taks

technically it costs more to kill sombody than to toss em in prison. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> much more. i've heard $10-20 million for an execution, and that's for a quick one without too many appeals. prison stays are on the order of $50k a year from what i read. it's not the actual execution itself so much as all the red-tape (and as noted, special housing) getting there. taks

yeah. it's a joke. they are prohibitied from advertising their own legal product, and they have to fund an organization that is legally allowed to slander them. the ultimate in hypocrisy. meanwhile, in an even more hypocritical move, their product is probably the most heavily taxed (except maybe alcohol and gasoline) in the free market. taks

that's a bit of a false premise. sure some murderers get out, but not many that were originally sentenced to death. the only resaon they did not get life without parole is that california did not (at least not at the time) have that option. i recall reading they only had 25 to life, though i cannot verify. in other states, if a death sentence gets commuted, it is usually to life without parole. you never hear about any of them getting out. taks

IMO, the annoying part is that the government forced the tobacco companies to fund what amounts to the most vitriolic attack ever seen on a product people clearly want. "the truth" is funded by tobacco companies. it's almost hypocritical. taks

could be. definitely cutting edge, however. taks

due to the feedback nature of economics, that won't happen. we won't suddenly be in a position where "OMG, there will be no oil after TOMORROW." what will happen is that once oil reserves really start to get to the point where we're saying "20 years left at best" (20 was an arbitrary choice), prices will start to go up. it won't necessarily be a sudden increase, as the recent suddenness was due to a host of mitigating factors. once that happens, however, other methods will become economically attractive. not only exotic oil extraction methods (tar sands, shale, etc.) but also alternative energy sources. there may be some lag while the economy adjusts, but it will happen. taks

i don't think the technology is even here to make them, yet. so yeah, it'll be about a trip to the moon to get one. taks

uh, 60" LCD is a projection, which is different, and most of them are about the same price as comparable plasmas. the largest actual LCD that i know of is 42". taks

i do believe alanschu warned everyone... taks

because there's no upgrade path. new mobos are all pcix (or is it pci-express... always switch the two). either way, demand or not, new technology always gets paired with new technology. directx 10 being new, and pci-whatever being new, that's what you'll see. taks

hehe, living by the ocean has a bonus attached now! wait, too bad i don't live by the ocean anymore. maybe we can fashion something out of the mountains? taks

with any luck, gas prices will plunge. this is better than hearing about a new refinery as far as the market is concerned. taks

king sooper's = kroger out in the west (i think city market, too). missouri still has some krogers, but that part of the country is dominated by schnuck's and dierberg's. keep in mind that a lot of off-brand products are actually made by the name-brand companies. red, white and blue beer = pabst blue ribbon, for example. no marketing dollars, and probably less quality control = cheaper product but still some significant volume from bargain hunters. there are a lot of products that way, and i would not be surprised if Big-K is made by one of the bigger companies. btw, malt-o-meal isn't as unheard of as you might think. it has been around for ages and was THE breakfast meal back in the 40s/50s. it was major hyped back then, just not so much now. there are regional differences, too. some things that are very common in the midwest, such as various brands of toasted ravioli, are unheard of outside of that region. taks

on topic, btw... colorado instituted a ban on smoking in all "public" places july 1 this year. my primary rub with this decision is that it was actually a denver initiative because the state voted it down twice. denver wanted to ban smoking, but they were worried about losing business to surrounding areas. so, in a bold measure to thwart the will of the people, they simply pushed it through the legislature. from a statewide perspective, this bill has absolutely nothing to do with health, only money. very hypocritical, IMO, since they used "health" as their reason. taks

for similar sizes, kaftan, LCD is much more expensive than plasma. you can get 42" plasmas for $1600 in the states now. a 42" LCD, OTOH, is running $2300. taks

XP borks with the BGs a bit, but not bad. the screen graphics get funky every once in a while, but it is easy to fix by simply scrolling around in the window or switching to another view, such as the map. taks

yup, but not everyone is bothered by it. why, i don't know, however. the SXRD is pretty good in this respect. this is a result of the screen they use, btw, on the tv face. i've read this, too, though i have heard differing opinions on how long this takes. they'll come down in price, eventually. unfortunately, i don't think their response time is as fast as the projection LCDs, so sports programs (and other fast moving vids) may suffer. excellent advice. i hadn't thought about that. the sub-par setting thing, however, is pretty easy to uncover, and i have noticed it. taks

when i went in to Ultimate Electronics eyeing DLP tvs, the one that had been returned the most was the 50 inch samsung. apparently they have major issues with the optical lens (which spins at something like 20k rpm). you can hear it spinning, too. also, the DLP tvs have a strange rainbow effect that some, but not all, can see. i do not see it, so it is not a bother, but those that can see it claim it is terribly annoying. personally, i'm looking at the sony SXRD tvs. in particular, this one at best buy. it is an LCD projection, and has the best contrast and clearest picture i've ever seen. keep in mind, i'm a big-time sony fan and have been for years. i have a 32" trinitron that is as clear today as it was 11 years ago when i got it. taks