Re: Happy 2009 Winter Solstice!

[Robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

 > From: "Mike M." <http://profiles.yahoo.com/handmeat>
 > Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:04:23 -0800 (PST)
 >
 > Well, on the bike maintenance thing, I guess it may matter what kind of riding 
 > you do (casual vs. strenuous, short vs. long distance, primary transportation 
 > vs. leisure).

I call it "utilitarian".  Shopping, commuting, etc.  But, I never drive to
work.  We do own a car, 'tho, so we occassionally do use it for shopping.

 > I've historically spent enough time on the strenuous/long/primary
 > corner of that cube, and have logged many more bicycle miles than
 > most people, and have had chains break, and cables snap.  I've also
 > gained an ability to have a "feel" for a bike, to know if it feels
 > tight & well tuned, and I prefer riding them when they do feel that
 > way (I feel the same way about cars, and skis, and probably other
 > things).

Yeah.  My bike definitely does not feel tight or well-tuned.  (The front
fork is a bit screwed up.  I only fell off the bike once, but I think that
was enough.  It was made in China and, despite having lots of features, is
more fragile than my old 19 year old bicycle.  (OTOH, my 19 year old bike
feels tight (but not well-tuned) but is extremely heavy and very very
funky.  I think it will probably last me the rest of my life.))

 > Regarding the "1/3 the cost statement," that's not how I
 > approach a bicycle purchase.  If the list price is $750, and I'm
 > planning to keep it for 5 years, I add the maintenance cost, cost of
 > chain, cable, tube, tire, replacement, and that's the total cost of
 > the bike.  I don't say "$750 and I'm done with it.  I would do the
 > same thing with a car.

Oh.  Interesting.  Then, I probably got a really great deal with my 19
year old bike (a USA-made Trek mountain bike).

The 3-year old bike in question had all the features that I needed so I
had to buy it.  (One of my requirements was that it be a woman's frame and
that immediately cuts down the choices quite a lot.)  In any case, given
the problem with the front fork, problems I've had with the rear derailer,
problems with the rear brakes, and my spokes breaking, I don't feel like
it's worth putting more money into this bike.  I think it's better to let
it die in a few years.

 > You are lucky you've never had a chain break.  In truth, unless you
 > ride very strenuously (particulary, occasionally standing off seat),

I do.

 > it's probably not a huge safety issue.  If you do ride strenuously,
 > I'd consider it a pretty major safety issue if you value your
 > testicles, regardless of your desire to have children ;)

Ah.  Maybe the woman's frame will save me in this case.

But, maybe you're right.  I should probably check the teeth on occassion.
Maybe getting the chain, freewheel, and front derailer replaced may be
worth it, even just to avoid groin injuries.

 > Re: Droid vs. iPhone.  I have already started learning the iPhone dev
 > environment so I'll probably just stick with it.  I'm not so much
 > into the " fully hackable for fun" thing - I mean, an iPhone can be
 > jailbroken

Wikipedia says that jailbreaking the iPhone voids the warranty.  But,
maybe you don't care.

 > and is arguably fully hackable as well, that's just not my
 > thing.  I think the iPhone revolutionized the mobile device market,
 > and I will enjoy in some very small way being a part of that
 > revolution.  (Though I am fully conscious of the fact that it will
 > likely be very short lived and in 2 years the mobile market landscape
 > could be very different).

For myself, I love the fact that all my devices (except Noelle's Mac) is
Debian-based.  I know where everything is, how to get around it, and how
to get it to do it the way I want.

I suppose I am still just a hacker.

 > FWIW, I've never bought any music off iTunes, and have no AAC files.
 > I'm not really into music. I use an iPod Nano for listening to audio
 > books/lectures, all of which are MP3.

Noelle uses an iPod shuffle.  (We were given it as a x-mas gift at my work
before we were taken over by MS.  Noelle usurped it.)

 > iTunes is both a conduit for
 > purchasing music and the " file organizer" for your iPod device, I
 > only use it for the latter (and for downloading new OS revisions for
 > my iPod touch).

I use Juice for organizing my podcasts at work.

One of the few nice things about Windows Media Player is speed-playback
and is the only reason I use it for listening to podcasts at work.

 > Re: Sachie/Japan. Yeah she lived with me off & on for a year in CA,
 > and lived in NYC for a few months for school, and has traveled around
 > quite a bit, so I think she's OK with the US.  I hope she's OK with
 > Seattle.  We lived in SJ for a bit and she has been to SJ Japantown.
 > No plans for children.

Yey!

 > She's 39, and I think there is some
 > statistically significant likelihood of problems with birth after 40,
 > but that's a secondary argument: neither of us desire children.

Yey!

 > Re: Amazon boycott. Are you opposed to buying things at the best
 > available price and having them shipped for free to your doorstep on
 > some sort of "shopping for discounted goods is an evil social virus"
 > platform, or an environmental platform, or is it the vestigial
 > remnants of the "1 click patent" platform?

Yes, that, and also Amazon puts local booksellers out of business.  I
order all my books through our local bookshops and stores.

And I can get almost all non-book stuff elsewhere.

 > Not that I'm a huge Amazon user.  I looked at my buying history for
 > the last 10 years, and I've averaged around 3 items a year, which is
 > less than I would have guessed.  But I definitely use them when I
 > find it convenient/cost-effective to do so.

My mom does, too.  She's an Amazon-head.

 > Re: C#, yeah, never learned it, but I'm sure it'd be cake for me, as
 > Java comes quite easily to a C++ programmer.  I've also heard good
 > things about C#, in particular their getter/setter syntax is pretty
 > clean,

It is, surprisingly.

 > and "delegates" sound like fun (you can hack them into Java
 > via reflection, but they aren't part of the core language).

Yeah, but, thus far, we haven't used this feature.

I like how it has all the C++-isms, but, like I said, some of its
reference-vs-value semantics are kinda funky in some cases.