Panda Car

Spotted this Panda car when I was touring around near Changsha, Hunan Province, China.

HP's Anti-Scientific Calculator

I saw a post on Engadget about these new HP calculators and thought...man, that's gonna be a bitch when it comes time to change batteries - ten screws?

Aside from that, I thought it looked pretty cool and wondered where I might score one or two of them.

What do you know? I got two today. It feels hefty, seems well built, comes with a hole for a lanyard (not sure why) and has a magnetic strip in the back so I can stick it to my fridge.

The best part? No reverse polish notation!!! I hated those RPN calculators with a passion. Not only were those unintuitive, what with the "enter" key - there is no "enter" in math!

Maybe it was because when I was taking calculus my friend handed me his HP calculator and watched me unable to make a simple multiplication.

I think I'll keep one, and regift the other one when I can't be bothered to go out and buy something meaningful...

Oh yeah, this thing can't even do square root, which means the crappy little key ring calculator I got sometime ago is functionally more complete.


But hey, the HP looks nicer on my desk...

Applying the Same Stanards

Well, my man Obama won the Democratic nomination. I was for the guy before I was ever against him. People tell me he is for gun control but I've yet to hear to much about it just now. I doubt my AK and 75 round drum will be seized any time soon, and I'm comforted with the protection of my good Glock 17 and a couple of loaded 17 round clips.

Being not into politics so much, I have only a couple of rules. I apply them as I do with my every day life. When the Dodge and Chevy both turned out to be crap, I go and read Consumer Reports to see what popular opinion has to say about is the next good car. A Honda, by this time.

Some of my friends and co-workers say this is shallow and uninformed. I simply ask how informed really is everyone else. While everyone claims an uncle who had a Silverado that refused to die in harsh Montanan horse hauling conditions, more people say that Bush and McCain are simple not cutting it. I'm giving the new purchase a chance.

A co-work confronted me about Barak and McCain, stating how Obama has perhaps, all these ties to Chicago mafia business and such. I respond that these are far fetched guesses and dismissed outright. He then said much about associations to his pastor and radical black leaders of the like of Frarakkahn (don't like him, so spelling don't matter) and maybe he is dangerous. Still, I said it's an association, not the man.

I have plenty of friends who do illicit drugs and do shady non-lawful things. I'd hate to be judged by who I may have gone to a party with.

I had only this to ask my co-worker - didn't McCain cheat on his wife when she was in dire need of being partially paralyzed and then divorce her to marry into his current, extremely wealthy wife?

The response I got was that being a prisoner of war in Vietnam has can mess anyone up, and most of those guys had similar problems. To mark this, my co-worker's father was in the same camp with John McCain and did not do too well after he was released.

While I understand the pain, I had to ask; if the he knew right from wrong, despite of what he has been through, should he not be held accountable for what he has done, regardless of what he has gone through? That is the true test of character.

Well, the time McCain was POW messed him up - was the response I got. Shoot, by that reasoning a POW can't do the right thing by his wife, do we want him running the country that leads the rest of the world?

Admittedly, I'm no expert in the candidates. All I know is that either makers has made me happy for the last several years, and it seems that everyone likes how the new model handles. By that logic, and the logic that the Honda Civic has replaced the Ford F series as the best selling vehicle in the US (F series has the top honor for the past 15 years), I think it's time I made a change myself.