Except the reconquista needs some sprucing up, with respect to spanish used in the US...

I love the "consonants as a gentle suggestion" bit, I'm glad no one took it as "there's a right castilian and a wrong castilian", which usually means people are confusing how the way they talk flows or "sings", like people from central and northern mexico have a very particular (and difference) cadence.

I don't have that much of a problem understanding Cubans (from Cuba, haven't met that many Cuban Americans), plus they have a very particular, thick accent which always makes me smile. I guess some vowels are stressed and there are parts which are very nasal.

It's also common in the mexican southern coasts, particularly Tabasco ("Tabahco"). I respect everyone's accent, but you have to pay triple the attention to them.

I have no need for this but cool!

It's a good point, particularly when you care about what you do but face people who coast through life.

Sometimes when you are offered customer service in spanish (and don't ask for english!) you get people from countries in which consonants are not pronounced... While I respect their traditions, it's impossible to understand what they're saying. So hint to outsourcers: not all castilian is understood equally and if you…

If I had a good night's sleep I'll naturally wake at 6AM. That condition is seldom met, I'm a really light sleeper.

Cool!

At my very first job I had a really bad boss, the last six months I asked him weekly to fire me instead of going through his poor idea of what management was (he didn't understand what his boss asked of him, so we had to do two or three projects to see which one would stick... Yeah, for real); he didn't have the guts…

Yup, pretty clear.

Thorough and useful! This is the one case of non Mac envy if you use Macbook Airs: as far as I understand you're stuck with Apple or OWC instead of all these options...

Interesting for those elder relatives / luddites who refuse to be "tied down to those things" and annoy everyone else as it's a pain go get a hold of them (they still exist!).

Interesting to know about the alternatives... I like wordpress.

I hope I never have to do this, but it's great to know what can be done.

Daily, even twice a day. If you live in a big city and have to commute, you're gonna stink at the end of the day. You can of course take 2 minute showers.

I think you are confusing the point, the fact that we can help others doesn't preclude us getting value from that. It's smarter because you're making the pie bigger for everyone, yourself included.

Good article, came to a similar conclusion from a different path.

I also have anecdotal evidence, WD seems to do better than Seagate, which I plainly avoid... Didn't know Hitachi did better though. I'd love to see this comparison for 2.5 drives.

Thanks, this is useful! I do enjoy better audio but also hate tangled earphone cables... They all seem specifically designed to grab my shirt collar. Sounds like someone will come up with a hifi alternative at some point.