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    Buy Win 8 system builder vs. 8.1 retail

    I am looking at building a new PC in the future but not for a few months. I don't want an upgrade version. Amazon has Win 8 System builder (with personal use license) for 129.00. Microsoft will be selling the retail copy 8.1 for 199.00 Is there anything better about the 8.1 retail version...
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    Best Camera for non-tech savy dad

    I am looking at getting my dad a replacement digital camera for my dad. His old one was an easy share Kodak. His computer skills are pretty limited he can turn it on, upload files by plugging the camera by USB, and then look at the pictures in the Kodak software. He would like a new one with...
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    Internet price vs. being fair to Sales agent

    So I test drove 3 different brands of cars about 2 cars each dealership. I am thinking of choosing the Camry (yes boring I know). The dealership has MSRP listed with their "internet" pricing on each vehicle in stock (about 3-4k off MSRP this falls in line with Edmunds TMV values). I...
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    Nvidia's entry against 7850/70

    When will Nvidia be releasing a new cards against the AMDs 7850/7870 price points? What will they be called GTX 660/650?
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    Vapor Liquid equillibrium

    Anyone know of any freeware programs that can do three component vapor liquid equilibrium calculations?
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    Electromagnetic attenuation and matter

    Is it axiomatic that all matter absorbs/attenuates all frequencies of electromagnetic radiation (from radio waves to gamma rays) to at least some extent (it could be barely any but at least more than 0)? The matter is not-exotic (no dark matter) but simply compounds based off of the traditional...
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    Why health insurance costs so much...

    My wife and I are having a baby. She needs to have a non-stress test done every week. Basically the test measures fetal movement and heart rate. The test can be done by a low level nurse takes about 30 minutes and less than 10 minutes of actual work from the nurse. We have decent...
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    Top Eleven Things I learned about Chemical Engineering

    I thought I knew a lot about chemical engineering and chemical plant design until I saw this episode of 24. Now I know I've been doing it all wrong when a chemical plant storage tank with toxic chemicals almost exploded because of terrorists. 1. When I design my Distributed control, system...
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    How could our W-4 withholding be so off?

    I'll skip to the cliffs ----------------------- Married I claimed 1 expemtion my wife claimed 0 exemptions Thats 1 less exemption than we could have claimed. Standard deduction/no dependents/some student loan interest deducted Did my taxes using a software program and we're in the hole for...
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    Reputable Bus service

    I see online that there are a lot of cheap fares for bus travel from DC to NY. It looks like when you include tolls and gas that the bus would save money over driving. I'm just not sure which are reliable companies. Can anyone suggest companies that they have had good dealings with for DC...
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    Should FDIC insurance limits be raised?

    There is some discussion of raising the FDIC insurance limits to 250,000, which is supported by both McCain/Obama. Raise limits to 250,000 I remember seeing the sign for 100,000 limits even as a kid. So I did some digging and the last time the FDIC limits were raised was in 1980 from...
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    Does the U.S. tax payer get the upside?

    The Fed has bailed out a bunch of financial services. Just today they bailed out AIG with an 80 million dollar loan and took 79.9% equity ownership of the company (20% remains in shareholder hands). Worse case scenario AIG defaults on the 80 billion loan. What about the best case? Say...
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    Election Funds J. McCain

    As of September 1st McCain cannot collect anymore election funds since he chose public financing. He may collect compliance funds which are used solely for complying with election laws/accounting and such. Compliance Fund FAQ Interesting the election commission ruled you can pay up to 5%...
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    Ipod touch mssing software

    I recently bought my wife an apple IPOD touch for her birthday, this April. It did not come pre-loaded with the January software update. Apple's website says it is 19.99. I can understand paying for it if I purchased the Ipod before January (albeit barely). However, I purchased mine from...
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    Warm: iPod touch 16 GB -$349 + 11.25% cash back (Chase)

    Target has the Ipod touch 16 GB $349 (normally $379 at target and 399 at apple). Chase Rewards Plus card has 9% cash back at Target till April 30th. Purchase by linking to target from chase rewards website. If you wait till you save up 200 cash back dollars you get 250 back so...
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    Man freed from jail after 26 years

    A man was recently freed after 26 years. Another man who actually committed the murder died, and his lawyered released a signed confession that they had kept secret because of attorney-client privilege. News story I personally think this goes to far. Its one thing knowing your client is...
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    My Trucker Relief Plan

    There have been a lot of stories recently on how high diesel prices are hurting truckers. Truckers Woes The high prices especially effect independent drivers who do not have long term purchasing agreements. Some truckers have suggested eliminating the diesel fuel tax for truckers. This...
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    Obama in Traditional Somali clothes

    Saw this on drudge report: Obama in Somalia Basically it looks like he was respecting Kenya culture by trying on some of their traditional clothes. In fact you can see his suit pants under it. However, this will clearly be used as Barack's an Undercover Muslim Brother (copyrighted 2008...
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    Pwned by real estate agent

    Cliffs: Selling house Real Estate agent blowing us off Believe real estate agent isn't living up to contract No real recourse because contract language is too subjective Well I'm selling my house in preperation of a move to DC. I want to sell it as quick as possible as to decrease...
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    Any US PTO Patent examiners out there?

    I've been working in my field of engineering for a little over 3 years. I've been appling to a few new jobs in hopes of upping my compensation. I've recieved a few offers including one from The USPTO to be a patent examiner. My first question is on how you find working conditions and work...
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    Microsoft excel help

    Please help diagnose the problem I am having with excel. Currently I have a summary file which links to other excel files located in the same folder as the summary excel file. Sometimes I can have the summary excel file open and when I edit the excel files it is linking to the summary file...
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    Mortgages: Amerisave

    Has anyone tried using a service such as amerisave as a mortgage broker? Amerisave is giving me the best combination of rates/closing costs. However it is an online broker and I assume that can cause some problems. What have been peoples experiences with Amerisave? What about online...
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    New EPA Gas Mileage Standards

    EPA is releasing an updated version of its testing for vehicle gas mileage. NY Times Story (reg required) Its seems as if city driving mileage will drop 10-20% while highway driving will drop 5-15% It seems this is a defacto raise in he CAFE standards by making them at least 10% harder...
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    32 oz beer while driving w my boss

    Cliff Notes: Driving home from work boss and the driver break out 32 oz beer and drink it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm an engineer for a company I won't name. I am working the night shift with my supervisor and...
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    The almost 0 risk investment scheme

    It seems everytime that one of these new game consoles come out there haven't been enough manufactured. People still have high demand for them and there going for over 50% in value. X-box 360 is going for about 800 on ebay right now. Next Christmas when PS3 comes out why not pre-order 3-4...
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    Change of Careers

    Hi all, I am currently a chemical engineer working in industry (2.5 years work experience). My job is okay and pays the bills. Unfortunately I just don't enjoy it as much as I'd like for something I am going to be doing for the rest of my life. I'd like to enter into IT. As IT is a...
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    Spin-off Thread

    A spin off thread from the evolution one. Rip refused to answer in the evoultion thread because he said he wanted a new thread. Well here it is...... 1. About how old is the earth? <-----answer this first 2. How long have homo sapiens been on earth? <-----answer this second 3...
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    Troubleshooting my wireless LAN/DSL

    Hi, I set up a wireless (G) network. When I first startup my computer it connects to the network fine. But when I try to load a webpage it freezes and says its trying to connect to "launchmodem". I used "tracert" in the command promp and it was able to go to www.yahoo.com. I found...
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    To Bust or not to bust?

    I live in Atlanta and theres a guy who lives in my apt. comlex who has NY plates. Thats not atypical for Atlanta there are a lot of NYers here. What is different is that it is an old style NY plate. These plates have been eliminated in NY (I know this because I am from NY originally). This...
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    Suggest a GPS

    Looking for a GPS reciever. $100 - $200 for hiking and geocaching. Any suggestions on a good model? A lot of the reviews I have read always complain about signals under tree cover, is this a problem with all models?
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    Which Prime 95 test to use?

    There are three options to use for the Prime 95 stress test. Which one/s should I use and why?
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    Service pack question

    I will be installing a fresh copy of windows XP. Do I need to install both SP1 and then SP2 or does SP2 have all of SP1 build in?
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    House now or later?

    Hi, I'm debating with myself whether I should buy a house now or later. The options: 1. Buy a house now with almost 100% financing. 2. Wait 3-4 years till I have a 20% downpayment I would prefer to do option 2 but Atlanta is a booming market, so house prices are going to keep...
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    NForce 3 vs NCQ

    Is it true that none of the NForce 3 boards can support NCQ? I was planning on getting the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum and had decided on a Seagate Barracuda, then I heard that you can't even use NCQ on Nforce 3. Is this hardware or driver related? If I can't use that feature now, will I ever...
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    Hard drive choice

    Hey, Going to be building a new computer and I need some advice on harddrives. I want: SATA (I'd prefer NCQ) 7200 RPM at least 8 meg cache between 100-160 GB at least a 3 year warrantee and I'd like the quietest drive possible with those above attributes. I've been looking at...
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    Future AGP cards generations

    How many more product cycles(full=new architexture, half=speed/memory improvements aka Ultra) can we expect ATI and NVIDIA to release AGP and PCIe video cards for? And if they do keep on realeasing them how big of a peformance gap will there between AGP and PCIe assuming the same processor...
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    Listerine

    While rinsing my mouth I had a few interesting questions about my mouthwaah Listerine. 1. Is the high alcohol content responsible for killing the bacteria in your mouth or is it the other active ingredients it lists such as Thymol, Eucalyptol, Methyl salicilate (sp?), and menthol responsible...
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    Electoral Tie a possibility

    Zogby and exit pollings have spit the bit. So I might as well make a guess. Here's an interesting scenario and honestly not that unlikely at this point: Assume Fl is Bush. If Kerry loses Ohio. Wins all the midwest states (ones gore won), NH, Hawaii, maines votes are not split, NV and...
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    Final Zogby Prediction

    Final 5Pm Zogby election call: Electroral votes Bush: 213 Kerry:311 heaven Popular Vote: Bush: 49.4% Kerry: 49.1% MOE: 3.2% The Iron Triangle, win all 3 the election is yours: Florida .1% trending Kerry Ohio 2% Bush but trending Kerry Pennsylvania Trending Kerry
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    Dick Morris v Karl Rove

    Kerry v Bush is a deadheat or maybe Bush is winning (Zogby) or Kerry is winning (Gallop). Bush does have the advantage of Karl Rove. I think we can agree that if Kerry gave Dick Morris enough money, Morris would help Kerry's campaign regardless of Morris's own personal beliefs. Could Dick...