Macs, Cars, and other things I love (like stimulus checks)

In car news, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin are all releasing four-door sedans. 

Lamborghini has previously released a Hummer-like behemoth of an SUV during the cheap-fuel days of the 1980s. Porsche, during the cheap-fuel days of the early-2000s, realeased a gargantuan sports car of an SUV known as the Cayenne. The Reventon and the Panamera, however, are the first real sedans for the companies. Aston, on the other hand, has a long--if mixed history with four-door vehicles. In 1944, they released a striking concept called the Atom, which failed to make production. They continued making sedans, stopping only after the love-it/hate-it Lagonda, styled by William Towns, which ended production in 1989. Personally, I think it's aesthetically pleasing with a few exceptions. However, I will now post pictures of the three new sedans from each company and you can tell me in the comments which one you favor. 

The Lamborghini Estoque. This car is a concept, which means that (1) it is not cleared for production, and (2) it takes design liberties that will not be present in the production model if there is one. In other words, it looks cooler.

The Aston Martin Rapide. This is the production version, so this is what it will look like driving down your street. Stunning, eh?
And finally, the Porsche Panamera. Which one's your favorite? Vote in the comments. 

Sorry about the video. Pirates of the Carribean does not equal Porsche Panamera...honestly.

In other car news, many kudos to Ford for refusing the "free money" offered to the Big Three by Congress. This proves what I've said all along: Ford is the best car company in existence.

Several more things I'd like to cover. First of all, why do I always get the urge to post when no one has commented on my previous post? I am, by bumping it down a notch, consigning my last post to perpetually unread status. Anyone visiting this blog while this post is the first in the line-up will, by some quirk of the human mind, believe that every time they visit there is one--and only one--new post, and thus will not scroll down. At least, that's how it works for me. Ah, well. Scroll down, guys! 

I've decided my next computer will be a Mac, probably a MacBook. I hope my OS isn't laced with insidious Microsoft warez ready to take over my system at any sign of switching to McKintosh...or whatever it's called. However, I'm trying to convince myself that it would be completely selfish and irrational to buy a new computer--especially an $850 (refurbished) Mac. I know I'll be getting a refund from the government if I file my taxes--probably about $100. Mom also thinks I might get a "stimulus check" as part of the government's response to the economic crisis--a response that makes my foolish selfishness look like gospel wisdom. If I did get a stimulus check for, say, $200, then my net contribution to the government since I first got a job in mid-June would be approximately -$150. 

I was a conservative republican and against a minimum wage hike until I became a minimum-wage worker. It is frighteningly easy to thoughtlessly dismiss something you've never experienced. It's basically impossible to live on minimum wage--no one should have to. It's very easy to be selfish about "government regulation of the economy," which does sap jobs. But now that I'm in the position of a low-wage worker, I...still don't support a raised minimum wage. Nor universal health care. Nor high taxes if and when I ever become wealthy. Nor government-funded social-engineering programs--like "abstinence-only" and "no-abstinence" sex education programs--basically any publicly funded sex-ed programs. I'm still a conservative, even though I have a low wage job. That's one hurdle I've crossed. The bottom line is that I'd rather be poor and free than poor and dependent on the government to spoon the protein mash and anti-fertility drugs into my mouth. 

I'd rather do it for myself, thanks much. 

Macintosh is a rabidly corporate company. Behind that silver-plated, trendy New-Left visage, however, it is a competent company that makes computers so far above the Microsoft standards that the mind simply can't take it in. My grandma has had an old iMac, circa 1998, that runs better eleven years on than my fourteen-months-old laptop. Mom is on her fifth computer since then: (three desktops and two laptops--all of which, it should be said, are still running. But only after extensive repairs and modifications.) Apple trumpets the fact that it makes the OS and the computer itself to fit each other, so that there is no conflict between the two. 

Apple Computer is an odd, clannish company. There is so much mythology surrounding the company it could be cut with a knife. Apple itself has done nothing to discourage this: Steve Jobs' introduction of the original Macintosh should prove that to you. It's a cross between exultant over-competence and shameless egotism. Very dated, yet interesting. 

And Mac's famous 1984 ad parodying--you guessed it--1984 by Orwell, urging consumers to fight the system (Microsoft.) 

I really, really want a MacBook. But they have discounts for college students, 

so I will definitely wait till then. And maybe I'll just wait until this poor Acer conks out (or I get a good offer for it.) 

I got this laptop for $450, and I've definitely had my money's worth. I don't intend to stop now.