matt’s debates

because matt’s debating is not a crime

Aerobics. Seriously.

“The Word Aerobics comes from two Greek words: aero, meaning ‘ability to,’ and bics, meaning ‘withstand tremendous boredom.’ This is the difference between a world-class marathon runner and a normal person: a world-class marathon runner has undergone sufficient aerobic conditioning that he can run for nearly three hours without falling asleep, whereas a normal person will quit after a few minutes and look for something interesting to do.”

(Dave Barry)

‘Nuff said.

Why I hate Microsoft software: an example

Notice I explicitly say Microsoft software. I don’t necessarily hate Microsoft as a corporation, I’m by no means their biggest fan, but I have no reason to hate them. Indeed, hate is such a strong word that I use it very, very sparingly. But I do hate their software. It’s a boring subject, so I’m not going to bang on about the evils of the Microsoft and laud the wonder that is Apple. It’s a pointless no-win argument - some people like Microsoft, some people like Apple. You choose, and you do what you want.

But here is a good example why I hate Microsoft software, and why I am ever so pleased that I made the switch to Apple.

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Strike 2, Apple

Internet trolls might call me an Apple fanboy, but I wouldn’t say I am. I am just one of the happy people who made the switch a couple of years ago, and I am well-pleased that I did. I started with the Mac Mini - which seemed like the cheapest way to find out what the switch would be like - all went well - and so have since bought a Macbook Pro. Which all went great, aside from a snafu over the definition of Apple retail versus Apple store.

Anyway, with the new stock MBP in hand, I started looking at upgrading the RAM, from 2gb to 4gb. After finding the specs, first stop was the Apple store to see their prices. You can imagine I was a little taken aback to see that 4gb (2 sticks of 2gb) was a staggering $600 - I’m well aware that Apple hardware is more expensive than most, but $600 seemed ridiculous. And indeed it is - I picked up 4gb of Kingston (a more than reputable memory manufacturer) for $125 from Amazon. I could also have got Crucial or Samsung, for a similar price. Intrigued, I decided to call the Apple store, just to find out why their RAM was so damn expensive. I mean, $200 I could undrstand, maybe $250, but a full FOUR times more expensive? No way. I didn’t really know what answer to expect, so I just went ahead:
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