there is a great “must read” article on why gas is so expensive and the various business transactions that go on behind the scenes with gas.
it is not just supply and demand. there are three different markets, a dozen players and bevy of contracts.
here is the link.
my new prius, originally uploaded by sreekav.
a couple of weeks back, me and my wife drove to the local toyota dealer and traded in my 5 speed, slightly rattly, rugged looking 150-hp honda accord sedan for an automatic, smooth, funny looking 76+ hp toyota prius hatchback.
i had always wanted to trade in my accord for a more powerful 6 speed sports sedan with a sport suspension. but once u get married and become somewhat “responsible”, things do not always work out the way you want it to go.
that said, the prius has been really fun. beside the main advantage of being able to drive in carpool lanes alone and the 50+ mpg, there are just so many things that are really cool about the prius. the real silent operation, the cool gadgetry, the little noises it makes when it does stuff like energize the hydraulic brakes, pump hot coolant into its thermos for reuse, etc….
still getting familiar with hypermiling techniques, coasting, gliding, running the car without the ICE etc…
do check out my mpg counter from greenhybrid.com mileage database below in the right corner of the blog.
(this entry has been published to this wordpress blog from within flickr using the wordpress api. pretty cool stuff)
i came across this video of new hires being welcomed in some company called aditi technologies.
at first, i thought it was a joke. but it seems to be real…. and i just think it is really cheap and pathetic .
what would you do if someone welcomed u like this ?
i feel a little bad that i am plagiarizing this.
check out this picture and try to find out what is so cool about it. (apart from the fact that the girl looks really pretty)
if u still have not been able to find out what it is, click this link to find out more.
here is the original article from dvorak .
i am a huge fan of the mac ads with hodgman and the other guy. they just crack me up. one of my favorites is the one where the pc is all stuffed up with crap.
almost all the ads hype up the difference. of course a mac is better, but not just that much better. however, when it comes to “crap”, the whole story is very much true. the dumb-ass retailers like “dell”, “hp”, “gateway” etc… just make the “pc” that much dumber.
i was sam’s club checking out some lcd monitors and saw a old couple come in to buy a laptop. the sams dude was explaining all the “crap” in the pc. the fancy photo editing software, the useless shit program “aol online”, the “msn messenger” that nobody uses etc… i felt so bad for the old couple. this has happened to me on more than one occasion. i just feel so bad and almost tell them not to buy that “piece of crap” pc.
they will not know to “reformat” the pc clean. they will not know to re-install the OS (heck, retailers do not even ship the OS cd anymore). they will not know to renew subscriptions for the tons of trial software which they will never need, they will not know if they should use aol online or msn internet both of which are bundled in. same goes with real player, windows media player and the gazillion other media related software that is dumped in.
there are hundreds of such folks who just get swindled by the dumb-ass pc retailers. it is not just the technology unaware folks. i have even seen some of my friends fall for the “crappy pcs”. if mac made their stuff just a little bit cheaper and more affordable and sell it in retail stores, i do not see any reason why one would every want to buy a “crap-loaded” pc.
laptops that run windows are cheap. and windows is a decent software. it has a bunch of flaws, but it works fine. so, i believe there is no reason to go buy a mac. but, if you did fall for a “crap-loaded” pc from one of the retailers, then read this article for a cure–> http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131370-c,utilities/article.html . it will give you a decent head start.
