10/12   http://www.gallup.com/poll/110980/Bush-Job-Approval-25-Lowest-Yet.aspx
        Will Bush win the lowest approval rating for a President ever? It looks
        like he is going to make a serious run for it.
        \_ And we still care about Bush because... ?
           \_ You don't think we should care about the president that did more
              to fuck up the country than any one single person?  Those who
              don't learn from history...
              \_ No, we haven't learned from history. Look at the 2000
                 and 2004 election. American people flunked American
                 history, and instead vote for people who are charming,
                 good looking, or looks/talks like one of them.
                 \_ Bush is better looking than Gore?
                    \_ most of his core supporters are monkeys.
            \_ Isn't he the leader of the Free World and standard
               bearer for the Republican Party still?

10/12   How the GOP used "Star Wars" to rip off the taxpayer:
        http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/washington/12missile.htm

10/12   The Certainty Bias:
        http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-certainty-bias

10/12   Is it my imagination or camera lens prices have gone up slightly
        on Amazon? I've been shopping and some of the lenses I want to
        get have gone up in price. What the hell is going on? I thought
        electronics are suppose to get cheaper, not more expensive.
        \_ I don't know if prices wet up to down.  But unlike a camera body, a
           big part of a lens is the glass elements which don't have much to do
           with electronics.
           \- it could be affected by USD-JPY exchange rates. french cheese
              prices have gone up massively due to the dollar deteriorating
              against the euro.
              \_ excellent point. Imports are getting more expensive.
                 Expect cheap Japanese cars to get more expensive.
                 \_ Does this mean Japanese porn DVDs will now cost a
                    lot more than before? Shit!!!
                    \_ Aren't Japanese porn mostly in VCD format?
                       \_ True until 1998-1999          -j porn expert
        \_ my take is following: blame Canon.  and I mean it.
           Canon has been doing pretty well at making lens more expensive,
           and other manufacturers start to mimic their marketing techniques.
           Some of technique Canon used includes:
           - use a different color on lens barrel, and called it "L"
             Since most people who buy the stuff 1. want the best stuff
             2. couldn't tell the differences, they effectively created
             this "sub brand" within the lens product line.  And people
             flocking for it.
             \_ No. Blame:
                1) The common people for flocking to Canon, who are seduced
                   by superior Canon marketing (starting with Andre Agassi
                   REBEL!) plus a bunch of good looking sports stars
                2) Nikon for being old fashioned and not keeping up with
                   the time. They're moving waaaay too slow and toooo
                   conservative for the 21st century. They also lagged
                   behind in sports shooting, and completely missed the
                   market that allowed Canon to take over professional SLR
                   in the 90s (now 80% of the sports pros use Canon)
                3) George W Bush for sending US economy into tail-spin
                   and making dollar very weak and import prices high.
                                                        -camboi
           - add additional functionalities to the lenses that is not
             necessarily useful.  My favorite example is the "image stabilize"
             functionalities.  While it is extremely useful for longer focal
             length, it is actually not all that useful on the short end.
             yet, people flocking to get an "IS" wide angle lens, and willing
             to pay premium for it.   Another example is having focus-motor
             built-into the lens instead of having focus motor in the camera
             body.  Again, having a focus motor in a long focal-length lens is
             a god send, but the benefit of it (over in-body motor) is very
             small for wide angle / standard lenses.  All these functionalities
             adds up, and better, people are willing to pay a lot more for it.

             If you know what you want and aware of trade offs, you could be
             frugal and still achieve the same optical quality of more
             expensive, newer lens.  The example I can give is the old,
             Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens.  Optically, it performs on par with the
             baby "L" and it is A LOT cheaper.
             \_ What short focal (less than 55mm) IS lens do you know?
                I don't see any on their product line. And if they do
                really have it, it's very useful for micro/macro. By the
                way what camera system do you have?             -camboi

10/12   RED LEADER: (over headset) Get set to make your attack run.
        \_ WTF award goes to YOU sir.
           \_ you know what happens to RED LEADER at this point don't you?
        \_ http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures.html
           Market set to open up 4%.
           Market set to open up 3.5%.
           \_ Key:
              Rebels == Shorts
              Vader == Hank Paulson
              You == citizen of The Empire
              \_ The Force is strong in this one.

10/12   Fannie and Freddie originated only 15% of subprime loans in 2006
        Private firms made nearly 83 percent of the subprime loans to low- and
        moderate-income borrowers that year.
        http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/53802.html
        \_ But those horrid dark skinned people ruined our economy by letting
           the Democrats force them to take home loans they knew they couldn't
           afford.  I think it was terrorist plot by all those muslim sleeper
           agents that have been infiltrating our elected government for a
           generation now.

10/12   Is there a reason why people will spend $2500.00 on a new film
        35mm camera that's just a reproduction of the old camera?
        http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKON-S3-LIMITED-EDITION-BLACK-Mint_W0QQitemZ160291325395QQihZ006QQcategoryZ15234QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262
        \_ Collectible.

10/12   When XP boots up on my PC, the screen reads "Microsoft (R) Windows (R)
        5.01. 2600 Service Pack 3 Multiprocessor Free."  What does "Free" mean?
        Thx.

10/12   Any recommednations on budget Xbox 360 games?  Here's mine:
        Crackdown is a lot of fun for $15 at Gamestop.