In my case, it was actually a critical part of the upgrade path. I sold my only computer to finance the bike. The next time I got a computer, it was a hand-me-down that didn't have the memory/disk-space to run the current Windows. Since I'd been using a variety of unix systems in the at school (UWaterloo!), and at work, Linux was a more logical choice than going back to a version of Windows that the machine could run.

If it's that old, it'll probably be the original steel frame. The M2 (and later M-models) were next-gen frames made from aluminum-ceramic(?) alloys. I think the "M2" stood for "Metal-Matrix".

My brother and his team have been messing around with Kinect.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/kinect-meets-a-pufferfish-display-produces-wonderfully-creepy-a/

Marvelous!

Very cool Andy

Hmm, combine that with facial recognition, and it would be awesome to have an eye of saruon looking at the last person to break the build.

"Who broke the build this time? Oh, looks like Bob is getting the evil stare, wonder what he did this time".

Absolutely insane mountain bike race.

Watch this full screen if you can.

tanstaafl.

Sweet vid. There were a couple of big gap drops in there that would make me nervous (I was never that comfortable in the air), but otherwise looks like a fun course.

Cool. Love the dog, and the whistles from the course marshalls.

I can't believe I missed this when it was first posted. I just watched it in a default-sized frame within the original web page.

I don't think I'm going to sleep right tonight. That was beyond insane, at least from the POV.

The guy was wearing a pin-stripe suite. Too bad there wasn't a pic of his full getup.

More here: http://vimeo.com/downtoearth

This one is a whole bag of awesome. Even coming from someone who usually votes Republican.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42756956#42756956

Although he should have left out the progressive tax bit with the story of the widow's mite. You really can't even make a tenuous link between the two.

A more proper viewpoint on Jesus and taxes would be, "Respect your government leaders, pay your taxes and then get on with stuff that really matters" (Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17). See also Romans 13:6-7. He could have hit Rush over the head with that point too.

I think the verse in Luke about (paraphrasing) "from he who has been given much, much will be required" gets pretty close to the logic behind progressive taxation.

Luke 12:48. It's surely better than what he chose. Although I believe that it speaks more about our obligation to God than to government, there's a principle there that can be applied more broadly.

But Rush is right.

The question "What would Jesus do?" is a whole different kettle of fish, and there are very good reasons why Rush won't ever ask that question. I'm pretty certain that, if Jesus had a pool of tax money to distribute among government programs, the army would not be the top benefactor. Likewise, if he had to make budget cuts, I'm pretty certain that he wouldn't be making cuts in the same places that the Republicans are.

But, if you frame the question "what would Jesus take?" then the answer is a very clear nothing. Jesus wasn't there to force people to follow God. He wasn't there to force people to take care of the poor. He always gave people the option (in contrast with the Old Testament God, who would eventually get pissed off enough to send giant fish out to harrass you into doing his bidding), and told them the spiritual consequences of the choices. "If you follow me..."

The imposition of taxes is not giving people that choice, so having your money go to the poor in that manner is of no value, from a spiritual perspective. All the rebuttal's biblical passages did (with one exception) was outline the spiritual consequences. That one exception was telling people to quit their bellyaching, because if a poor woman could pay her taxes, they could too. At best, from the quoted passages, you can assume that Christ would be in favour of using collected tax money to pay for social programs, but in no way can you extrapolate that to assume he'd be in favour of progressive taxes, or higher taxes, or anything else regarding taxes. There just simply isn't enough there to make a case for that.

Rush is a master of twisting words. He asks the question that lets him give the answer he wants, not the question that needs to be answered.

This is a copy of an email that was forwarded (through many generations) to me.

This summer, Philips and director/producer Ridley Scott launched a global filmmaking competition dubbed "Tell It Your Way" following its Cannes Lions award-winning short-film project "Parallel Lines." The entrants were given freedom of expression and could take up any theme they wanted.

There were two strict rules:

The dialogue could be precisely six-lines (as it was in the ‘Parallel Lines’ films), and entries could not exceed three minutes.

Here's the prize-winning entry in Philips' "Tell It Your Way" competition. Easy to see how it impressed and touched the judges. Watch it here:

A very powerful film to be done in such a short duration. It's HD, view it full screen.

tanstaafl.

Despite not being pleased with the new prices, I must admit this is pretty spot-on:

http://www.allisnotlo.st/index_en.html

Chrome recommended. No clue how it will behave in inferior browsers.

Bah, standards, who needs 'em? I say we all go back to the 90's and stick these buttons all over the place


Anyhow, Loren posted this elsewhere, and it's worth resharing.



And that is just one of three.





All worth watching HD fullscreen.

Wow videos are great Tom, even if the guy looks a bit like one of my least favourite comedians.

Haha! I liked the spinning wheel at the end.

I also love jokes of changed expectations, so my favorite part of the whole short was when the guy goes bounding down the hill, and just before he comes down on the precariously-placed boulder he gets scooped up by a giant bird. Good timing there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8S_eEv_A5k

mmmmmmm

Nature is amazing...

http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10397

Doug likes this video. Betcha dollar!

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badast...roy-your-brain/

Anybody who doubts the authenticity of this illusion... just print the attached photo on a good color laser printer, then fold the page so that squares A and B touch each other.



tanstaafl.