Prime Cut

Dallas most dangerous big city, FBI says.

I was reading a history book (A gripping book I might add.) and came across a sentence that caused my jaw to drop to the floor. The section I was reading was on the Eight Years War in the Netherlands. The sentence is as follows..

Rebellions occur not when people are being repressed, but when oppression lifts and liberation is in the air.

I could not help but link the author's opinion on the root of the Eight Years war with Iraq. (And if you think about it, other conflicts in history.) I believe this statement applies to Iraq's current problems to an extent. The skimishes between Iraqis is bad, but it is also a sign of things getting better. Huh? It is a sign of a freedom which didn't exist before. In time and with proper support and guidance, which means U.S. commitment, they will grow into civility. The U.S. had to go through it. Ireland has been through it. So have many others.

The lesson here is if you want a glimpse at where events are going, take note of where events have gone in the past.

The next Subaru WRX comes with an improved front end and impressive horsepower, 330hp! That is going to make that little sedan MOVE. Good riddance to the failed Subaru duck nose grills.

Ford is continuing its Way Forward restructuring program. The only step taken so far that will make a real difference is giving Bill Ford the boot. Now comes word of an upcoming change in pricing strategy. Another move with little effect. If you want people to buy your products, get part suppliers with higher quality parts, deliver innovative designs, and back it all up with a beefed up warranty, powertrain AND bumper to bumper. Between the last two American owned auto makers, GM is doing the better job in recovering.

ECS, the manufacturer of low cost motherboards, will be making boards for Intel. My how things have changed. ECS was known for low grade, always crashing, cheap motherboards. Now, they have moved on up to be a supplier for Intel.

Speaking of Intel. It's nice to see the emperor has found its new groove after being spanked by AMD for so long. The Core 2 Duos are a very impressive set of CPUs. Extreme Tech does a complete analysis of the Core 2 Duo vs. AMD AM2s.

If you haven't been keeping up with the high def DVD wars, it looks like HD DVD is pulling ahead. The DVD Wars had HD DVD winning in all categories on 09-12-06. It's making progress over Blu-Ray. Sony's recent announcement of supply problems with the PS3 isn't going to help blu-ray's cause.

I found at Snopes, the urban legends buster, an article with the following image I thought was cool. What appears to be camels is actually just the shadows. The white "lines" in the sand are the actual camels. Click the image to get a larger view.