It raises my hackles when I see a title “The PC is dying” even when followed by “but very, very slowly.” No, the PC is not dying. It will probably never die. It will simply become a device for certain kinds of productivity tasks. Not all devices need to be portable. What’s ironic is that the whole “cloud computing” thing which has been right around the corner since I was in college but is only now coming to fruition, is something that makes having a desktop in addition to a portable device more easy. I say “ironically” because it’s the same techie tastemakers who have been pumping cloud computing who are also pumping the Death of the PC.
Richard Florida, not known for having anything but disdain for anywhere but hip coastal places, puts his prejudices aside and writes a good piece on the rise of the high-tech south.
Happiness looks good on a woman, but not on a man. I actually find this a little puzzling, because giving off an aura of happiness seemed to help me socially, with both genders. Then again, maybe it was just the absence of gloominess. Or alternately, the happiness came off as pride, which looks good on a man and bad on a woman.
Lecturers Against Online Learning. I understand some of the concerns, but as long as we’re encouraging everybody to go to college and we’re charging so much for the privilege, we have to find more economical ways to deliver the product.
Felix Salmon makes the case that we should abolish the 30 year fixed rate mortgage. It’s kind of funny (not “ha ha funny”), but it wasn’t long ago that everybody thought that these things were the best thing ever, especially when combined with No Prepayment Penalty. It turns out that it played a significant role in all that transpired in the housing market. When interest rates fluctuate, fixed-rate mortgages is all-upside for the consumer. If interest rates go down, they can refinance, if they go up, the bank is stuck.
When we talk about American car companies, we’re still talking about truck companies.
Why so many cars are white and silver. As someone for whom white and silver are my least favorite car colors, I always wondered about this. I thought it was because it was cheaper. It turns out it’s because it allows them to do some enticing stuff with the paint. I still don’t understand why gleamy silver is better than a real color, even if not in a gleamy shade.
It’s common in the US for people who are waaaay up the economic chain (and some who are down it) to claim or see themselves as being “in the middle.” It turns out, it’s not just an American thing.
Why funny TV commercials work.
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Happiness looks good on a woman, but not on a man. I actually find this a little puzzling, because giving off an aura of happiness seemed to help me socially, with both genders. Then again, maybe it was just the absence of gloominess.
This is an aspect of The Game that I still haven’t figured out. Shouldn’t “successful”, “attractive” men be happy? I can tell you that in my high school/early college days, I used to wear a perpetual scowl that I (at the time) would have called “edgy” and “dangerous”. It did not attract girls.
When we talk about American car companies, we’re still talking about truck companies.
Good stuff. Touring the F-150 factory in Detroit was a highlight of my life.
Why so many cars are white and silver.
This link was actually really fascinating! Very true that car colours in the 60s and 70s were so much more flamboyant and more exciting generally. Of course I wasn’t alive back then, but pictures makes it look like a time that was brighter and happier, manifested (for instance) in cars that came in orange, lime and other dazzling colours.
If I were in a mood to whimsically speculate, I might suggest that the current automotive palette reflects a society that has become darker, less secure, and less hopeful.
Oh, and if you drive a white car (which looks like a police car at night or from a distance), you need to be shot, boiled, peeled with a potato peeler, and then shot again for good measure.
Shouldn’t “successful”, “attractive” men be happy?
I don’t know. I suspect that in the long run, happiness is more a personality characteristic than a response to environmental conditions. That is, a success might temporarily make you happy, or a failure unhappy, but soon you revert to your baseline level of happiness.
And a person with a high baseline level of happiness is a person who’s generally satisfied with whatever he has, meaning that he probably won’t be very ambitious.
Maybe. Just speculating.
The picture gives new meaning to the phrase Go Shit in your Hat.
As for 30 year mortgages, their mere existence props up the housing market. If they were made illegal, the housing market would plummet.
Good stuff. Touring the F-150 factory in Detroit was a highlight of my life.
I’m more of a car guy myself. Well, a crossover SUV guy at the moment. I’ve never really desired a pickup truck.
This link was actually really fascinating!
Slate is at its best when it answers questions I’ve always wondered about but never thought to ask. There are lots of old cars in the town we live in (more cars from the nineties than the aughts, I’d wager), but alas none from the more colorful days.
I’m actually fine with the subdued colors. The Forester is a subdued green. But I want it to be a subdued color. Not silver.
In Boise, people driving decommissioned police cars around seems to be all the rage. It’s really annoying. The badges and such are scraped off, but sometimes they still even have the stripes on them.
As for 30 year mortgages, their mere existence props up the housing market. If they were made illegal, the housing market would plummet.
It’s especially true in combination with waived down payment requirements. Oh, and IO loans and balloons. We’ve managed to find a way to get everybody into a house without actually paying for it.
The picture gives new meaning to the phrase Go Shit in your Hat.
Hehe.