Fraser

That's a bogus argument. +1 I'm there with you. I've got no problems with leaving one cent and a comment on the receipt if the service has been terrible. Done it before and will do it again.

The photo of that Mustang makes it look lie a die cast model! Still got the same Mercedes S600 here.

It was a joke. The person you saw really isn't the Stig, and they made that pretty obvious, or at least I thought they did... My mother's partner is a paramedic at numerous race events and does stand by at Dunsfold Park for Top Gear occasionally. He knows the true identity of the current Stig. In fact a good Google will give you plenty of evidence pointing you to who it really is. Perry McCarthy was the original but killed off when he revealed himself somehow.

Went to Apple when I emigrated as my wife had a Powerbook. Lived with it for three years before getting my own computer and went back to PC again. My computing uses are fairly minimal whereas she does website design, graphic design etc. My brother in law works in special effects on films and uses both. I do like some Apple products, have an iPod Touch which I love

That's inflation for you

Can't speak for Canada but to say people are left to die in the streets in the UK is utter nonsense. My aunt (in her late 40s) had a severe stroke a few years back. She was hospitalized immediately and now has a full time, live-in carer. All covered under the NHS. My immediate family all had private health care (covered by my parent's employers) but I know enough people who work for, and have been served by the NHS and the system works well. Yes, there are some failings with the UK system, there are going to be with any healthcare system. My experiences with the US system are much poorer than the UK equivalent. The US system is run far too much like a business, ignoring those who need care. A few years back my wife was critically injured in a car accident and whilst the initial immediate care was excellent the rest of her recovery which was more dictated by her health insurance provider was next to abysmal. Their obligation to her ended as soon as it possibly could. Then there's the bureaucracy and paperwork...

+1 Moving from Europe to the US one I thing I notice is a lot of diehards that blindly support the party their parents/grandparents/great-grandparents did. There doesn't seem to be more of the general public free thinking based on actual policy, the merits of the individual candidate or their manifesto. Much more of a flying the flag mentality. In the UK declaring who you vote for and support (unless you're actively campaigning or work for the party) is much more taboo. I really have no idea who my parents vote for and the last time there was a general election when we emerged from the booth I asked and they didn't tell me!

Am an aviation and travel geek.

Cool! My wife and I collect vintage travel posters (mostly early 20th century) from each place in the world we visit and put them on the wall in our office.

Titanic: The Sequel

I'd argue that ETFs work for both long and short term gains. I'd bought a few leveraged ETFs in the last 12 months for my Scottrade account and when I told my FA I was going to hold onto them he said I was nuts. I can't moan about the 120% gains in 9 months though

Exchange Traded Funds. Kudos to you on wanting to learn this stuff early. I'd work with people who were in their 40s and 50s who had no idea about the very basics of investing. I was only a little older than you when I first started doing this kind of thing and started investing a lot whilst I was at University, it has helped me get to the stage where I have no debt I couldn't pay off immediately including my mortgage (all of which I keep because it is very cheap borrowing) if I wanted...and I'm 26. Annual reports and the like are a good place to start for companies that are already public. I'll let you read up on the signs to look for but a couple of things are how much debt the company has, cash balance, earnings per share etc....teaching the man to fish and all that. If you're reading in Wired magazine then you're probably wanting to invest in a rather volatile stock, if it is even publicly traded at this stage. You'll either make a ton of money (and lose it very quickly if you hold out) or it'll go nowhere but Chapter 11. If you're looking to buy and hold it doesn't really matter how much money you start with but if you're looking to buy and sell on a regular basis then I wouldn't bother buying in until you have at least a couple of thousand dollars you're willing to put in. Otherwise you'll lose your shirt in commissions alone, even through Scottrade, Sharebuilder and the like.

I wouldn't say stocks are still low, if anything I'd say they are more the other way round. The stock market has recovered greatly in the last 8 months or so but only on the back of the fact that it wasn't a complete and utter meltdown. The fundamentals of the economy aren't all that great. Instead of trying to pick up hot stock tips read about the signs that indicate a company is worth buying by doing your own research through what information is publicly available. This is the teaching the man to fish psychology.... Ignoring 401k/IRAs for a second here I think it is good to have a mix of where your money invested. I have full service brokerage; a financial advisor who manages my portfolio for what are essentially retirement funds. I also have some other funds in low load mutual funds and then my own Scottrade account for playing around. My split of my money is about 70/20/10 in favour of the full service brokerage and my background is in investment planning so I've got a pretty good eye for this kind of thing. I'd say ETFs might be a good place to start for someone in your shoes. Easily traded, low loads and nice range of possibilities on the investing side.

Some good suggestions by zeg and clambake. If you're going to do the roundabout LA -> San Francisco -> Las Vegas routing then definitely check out Yosemite National Park. One little thing from me, someone who goes to San Francisco every couple of months...don't call it 'San Fran', the locals hate it. Almost as much as Frisco!

The other possibility is that the baggage tags are lost, possibly ripped off. Behind the scenes baggage handling equipment is pretty rough on bags and if something is hanging off the bag it could be ripped off, that's why you sometimes see bags with ripped zippers. Even something designed to be on a bag could get torn off. I know people who have lost bags that way but eventually got them back because they left identifying information within the bag itself. Last week I flew westbound over the pond and had to check my usual rollerbag (the Xmas Day incident happened while I was away) because only one carry on was allowed. I duct taped all the zip handles flush against the bag, it looked dumb but the check-in agent knew why I did it and said it was a decent idea. Have you looked to claim against travel insurance or see if homeowners insurance will cover the clubs, some policies do.

That episode was good. Plus Jeremy's car blew up right outside a good friend's house, about three miles from my UK residence.

I agree with you. I don't think there is ever an excuse for not using your indicators, I always do, even at 2am and if I'm the only car I can see. I'm always looking and observing what traffic is doing ahead and behind me. I've learned that you should be able to close your eyes (although not going to obviously!) and know what the make and colour of all the cars in your line of sight should be at any given time. It is a good exercise in being aware of your surroundings and one of the reasons why I think I've not got into an accident yet. I can spot the idiot who could change lanes and drive into me when they're about three cars away.

My brother-in-law spent several months in New Zealand this year as one of the lead CGI guys on this project so it is good to hear everyone (at least from what I've heard) enjoys the visuals! Did the final scene and he even got direct praise from Cameron himself! The 3-D depends on how good the projectionist team are. Apparently there is some new projection technology that helps with the 3-D. One review I read said that the 3-D wasn't effective at all so Fox flew a projectionist out to them for a second attempt and it was done better. Given that most movie theatre workers appear to be teenagers earning $10/hr I wouldn't have huge hopes for the 3-D. Personally I didn't think the 3-D blew me away, it was reasonably good and worth paying the extra couple of bucks for but it wasn't the immersed experience I've had in some 3-D films. It added some more relief to the characters and the background though.

Driving over here in the US really pisses me off. People just don't take it seriously, it is almost like dead time. I forget the number of times I call people and they say 'now's a good time, I'm driving'. Holiday traffic is awful, that coupled with the 16" of snow we received last weekend and driving at the moment isn't much fun. Some of the things I find intolerable: - Blatant running of red lights - the light has been red for a good three seconds but because the traffic is heavy you find a gaggle of cars will sneak through. - Blocking of intersections - if you can't get through then sit still, don't jam up the whole intersection for everyone else. - Cellphones - need I say more. Yes some people can manage with them but how often do I find someone swerving over into my lane (without indicating or checking blindspot) to find them on a phone? - Scant use of lights - maybe I'm weird but I either put mine in automatic mode or leave them on all the time. In the early evening when the light is poor I'm amazed at the number of people who don't bother with lights or just put their front lights on. - No use of indicators - yeah, if you're the only one on the road at 2am you can change lanes without them but the whole point of them is to let other drivers know of your intentions. - No checking of blindspots when changing lanes - yeah, if you look that'll stop you running into me...or killing a motorcyclist - Horrible/lazy parking - no need to park your F-350 diagonally over three parking bays. Sure you won't get dents in your doors but someone might stone the vehicle because you're a tool. - Middle or left lane hangers on the interstate - drives. me. up. the. freaking. wall. There are signs on all the interstates around me for slowest traffic to stay in the right lane but everyone (for the most part) ignores them. The result is a fool in the left lane driving at 65mph that refuses to move over creates a hazard by forcing those who want to pass to go up the other side. If people bothered to have some lane discipline then that would massively help traffic flow and reduce jams! I can understand people not wanting to spend time in the right lane on urban interstates where you have entry/exit ramps every 1/4mile but on sections where there is nothing for 10miles it is just annoying. I'm not saying that driving in the UK (where I spend most of my non-US driving) is perfect but the difference in driving standard is pretty obvious.

Same here, even though the IT guys at work give me grief for it! After using Chrome everything else feels really cluttered. I get cheesed off when websites don't fully support Chrome, although they are few and far between thankfully.

I don't think there is such a thing as a must have game as it depends on what you like. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for me, I bought a PS3 for that game alone. Epically amazing graphics and the king of car racing games...The full version comes out in the Summer.

2005 Mercedes S600 - V12 twin turbo, 493bhp, 590lb/ft torque and massaging seats...Love her!

I was thinking of the Blackwater line in particular... The Creme Brulee Stout is pretty stunning, though rather heavy going, wish it was in something smaller than a 750ml bottle! I've been really annoyed because we've not been able to get Choklat here this year (in VA). I think the distributor has screwed it up this time around as it has not been available anywhere..

I'm a beer guy too. Favourites micro breweries are Dogfish Head (from Delaware) and Southern Tier (New York state). Rogue is fantastic! The Dead Guy Ale is a great session beer! I'd say $14 isn't unreasonable for a good six pack. I usually pay around $11 for a 4 pack of Dogfish Head 90min IPA. I got their 120min IPA four pack from the brewery for $30. You can buy a world class beer for $11 whereas in the wine department that would barely get you off the bottom shelf!

I'm with you guys...beer gets me going! Have a fantastic ale house just up the road from me with 56 micro beers on draft (rotated almost weekly) and around 400 bottled beers from around the world. Sunday afternoons they do all American drafts for about 1/3 regular price A great opportunity to try something different without paying $11 for it! The American micro industry is fantastic, such a great variety and depth of beers available. It is a shame the macro stuff (with the exception of Sam Adams - if you count it as a macro) is completely shite.