Just Saying -- the soapbox thread

[juansolo]

I've just bought myself a SNES (again, had one back in the day). My life is complete.

[alanp]

How common is central heating? An article I'm reading reckons that it's one of the big shocks that happens to foreigners who move to New Zealand.

Over here, central heating is VERY uncommon. You're more likely to get a small heater in the corner of the room you're in, and wood fires are very common. (I don't use mine, since I'm usually at the opposite end of the house to the lounge, and it makes no sense to me to waste money on burning wood then.) I've got a fan ventilation setup, but all it is is basically a fan with some air filters in it. It just moves it around, it doesn't make the air hotter or colder.

People certainly don't bother heating hallways, as the article suggests non-kiwi's do. Bathrooms with heat lamps in them get heated, sure, but that's it -- having a heater plugged in there sounds like a recipe for disaster.

(Another article I read, years ago, reckoned that when the first European settlers arrived, they learnt that while your toes still get damn frosty here, sleeping without the fire going in winter won't kill you, and therefore promptly gave up on the whole insulation nonsense. Older houses here are notoriously freezing in winter.)

[juansolo]

I've just bought myself a SNES (again, had one back in the day). My life is complete.

Yesterday I picked up a PC-Engine Duo... In between I've got an N64 and a PS2... It's getting to be a problem* I feel


*I'm running out of power and inputs.

[juansolo]

How common is central heating?

99% of houses have it I'd say here (UK). Mainly due to the fact that the weather is miserable and cold most of the time. For the two weeks of the year the weather is warm enough that the overly insulated houses become furnaces, we generally put up with it (but moan... much like we moan when it's cold, or wet), because it never lasts. No one has A/C really outside businesses. So sales of fans from the local DIY stores peaks for that two weeks, then they get chucked in the loft for the rest of the year.

Given all the above, more convertibles are sold in the UK than anywhere else in Europe... We have our eccentricities...

[alanp]

I was actually tempted to get an X-box the other day.

Not enough to actually consider uncracking my wallet and spending money on one, mind you. But tempted on a "That might be nice level."

[Muadzin]

There may be the odd old farm or building but over here every home has central heating as well. For pretty much the same reasons as juansolo stated. Although as a continental country we at least get twice the number of weeks with insufferable heat then the UK. Made worse because the Netherlands is basically one giant low lying swamp so the humidity then becomes oppressive. It will get worse as the climate gets hotter.

[m-Kresol]

There may be the odd old farm or building but over here every home has central heating as well. For pretty much the same reasons as juansolo stated. Although as a continental country we at least get twice the number of weeks with insufferable heat then the UK. Made worse because the Netherlands is basically one giant low lying swamp so the humidity then becomes oppressive. It will get worse as the climate gets hotter.

if the climate gets hotter, "the flood" from melting icecaps will cool you guys first

same in Austria with more warm weather. Especially in Vienna, we had a few weeks 30+ °C the last years, which is nice if you are in a basement lab with a glass front without AC and 60 students working with solvents. Hurra for ether!

[thesmokingman]

the last time I went without central heating was living in Florida where we had a room heater for the handful of cold days a year ... in Kansas, grateful to have heat.

[davent]

When you can go months in the winter where you get a day here and there where it doesn't go up above freezing, central heating is the norm. And in the summer plus 30 C, with humidity plus 40 C, central air is very prevalent if not, window units. We use a few fans, i love the heat. One night a few summers ago i had my infra red thermometer in the bedroom for some reason, the walls and bed were reading 34 C, woke up in the morning buried under the quilt that keeps me warm in the winter.

dave

[jtaormina]

In Michigan we have an excellent mix of all weather and seasons. I've never been in a home without central heat in this state. Other warmer states like Florida Arizona could be possible but not this far north. I have a fireplace and I do burn in it sometimes in the winter as I enjoy it a lot.  But it is more work than pushing the "heat on" button. Central AC is pretty common these days. When I was a kid in the 80's it was much less common. Several family members had no AC.

[selfdestroyer]

I was actually tempted to get an X-box the other day.

Not enough to actually consider uncracking my wallet and spending money on one, mind you. But tempted on a "That might be nice level."

I picked up one at a thrift store a few weeks ago to try to do the memory upgrade. I picked up the memory here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271359815741?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Just got it a couple days ago.. I'm not afraid of soldering it but more afraid of the desoldering process. I have been watching a bunch of Youtube vids on it.

I have a couple others that are workhorses. One is modded with a SmartXX and the other (Halo green edition) is softmoded. I would recommend picking one up and tossing a 2TB HDD in it and get to playing. I think I may still have the notes from when I softmoded mine and put the 2TB HDD in if you want them.

Cody

[alanp]

Re-listening to Tomita's version of _The Planets_ (RIP Isao Tomita).

I like how he put his own spin on it... not just a note for note performance, like Carlos' Switched On Bach. Although this did get it banned in the UK by Holst's daughter, who felt he went too far.

[Muadzin]

There may be the odd old farm or building but over here every home has central heating as well. For pretty much the same reasons as juansolo stated. Although as a continental country we at least get twice the number of weeks with insufferable heat then the UK. Made worse because the Netherlands is basically one giant low lying swamp so the humidity then becomes oppressive. It will get worse as the climate gets hotter.

if the climate gets hotter, "the flood" from melting icecaps will cool you guys first

Perhaps. I've once calculated that with a maximum sealevel rise Nijmegen would become a sea side city. So on the plus side I'd get more cool sea breeze and a nice view.

Then again, if there's one thing the Dutch are good at it its designing flood defenses. They say that the Great Wall of China was the only man made structure you could see from space. That turned out to be wrong. There is of course a real man made structure you can see from space. It's called the Netherlands.

same in Austria with more warm weather. Especially in Vienna, we had a few weeks 30+ °C the last years, which is nice if you are in a basement lab with a glass front without AC and 60 students working with solvents. Hurra for ether!

Our old offices in the university library on the first floor were constantly being baked by the sun 24/7, had no air conditioning and the automatic sun screens had a bad habit of always going up when the sun was shining the most. And it was still a better place to be then my own home.

[peAk]

I could do without central heating --- it's central AC that I could NEVER give up.

Texas heat sucks sucks sucks

...and we are heading into the worst part 

[alanp]

Zero Punctuation's weekly review came out on youtube an hour ago.

... and it's Yet Another Fking Mario Game. You know, because we don't have well ENOUGH of the fking things yet. Whatsherface gets kidnapped, the short fat one collects crack stars, repeated ad nauseum until Nintendo have put out another five games without so much as a penny coming back to them.

Yes, I know it's a retro review. Doesn't make my point less valid. And continuity? It's a PLATFORMER.

Like I said, I never owned a console, whether of the Sega, Nintendo, or Sony variety. I've never played Mario (don't think there was a C64 version... I had hundreds of games on that thing.) Maybe that's why several dozen reviews piddling away time on Yet Another Mario Game pisses me off, when he could be reviewing something that wasn't rubber stamped out.