Recent content by MarcVH

Cheapest place I've seen for these cables is Monoprice, and they do have long ones (50 ft). Haven't tried them myself, but some people say they seem to work OK.

Hurricanes and earthquakes, yes. I don't think I've ever seen a policy that excluded tornadoes -- they're small enough that they usually only damage a handful of houses and so coverage isn't a problem. Insurance companies don't want to cover perils like earthquakes, since they can be so large...

The models with the attached grinders all seem to have the whirring blade grinders, which are considered inferior because they generate heat and they don't grind the coffee uniformly (you end up with "pebbles and boulders.") A burr grinder is preferred by all the sources I've read, although I...

The conventional wisdom is that term life is the most cost-effective way to get life insurance, and if you also want savings or investments to do those separately. There are probably situations where this wisdom doesn't apply (for example, if you are using life insurance as an estate planning...

It probably stems from the fact that lots of rooms are arranged such that there is a "focal point" of the room which is a perfect place for a large TV, but some idiot has gone and put a fireplace there instead. :D If you sit in a recliner or the like when watching TV, then looking up...

Remember that you have two separate decisions to make here: [list=1]What do you want to invest your money in? Stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, or what?Should you do this investing through a "normal" taxable account, or some kind of special account like an IRA?[/list=1] These are two...

One I see from a lot of people who otherwise seem to know better (and, coincidentally enough, is in this very forum in another thread) is the mixing up of "principal" and "principle."

That's an EDTV, not an HDTV. That might be OK for you, but you'd initially said you wanted an HDTV. I'd agree with Charlie's comments that you may find that flat screen options have less of an "monstrosity" impact on the room than a big heavy tube TV.

Well, let's see. 32" would be pretty small for a plasma (42" is more typical) and still out of your price range. So forget plasma. I've never seen a DLP TV smaller than 43", so that's out. That pretty much leaves you with LCD or tube, if you're set on the size contstraints you mention; I'd...

The article quite explicitly notes that the reporter asked various law enforcement agencies whether the lights are illegal, and got a variety of answers. So (unless you think the reporter was lying) it is established that some LEOs think they're OK. Clearly her mistake was going into court...

I usually bike to work, but I always seem to miss Bike To Work Day for some reason (sick, vacation, business trip, etc.) Go figure. It's only 14.5 miles round-trip, but it also involves something like 600' of gain, which gets the blood pumping.

Sigh, it was adequately done considering, but too many loose ends. ...like what happened to Lynne. Palmer's firing Mike would have been a lot more plausible if he'd mentioned that at least part of the reason was because of what happened to Lynne. I also don't get how this grand conspiracy...

Remember, a lot of US money is held outside the U.S. for various reasons. Saddam Hussein isn't the only one with huge stashes of our currency; it's commonly held by people in many countries for various reasons (the local currency isn't very stable, they're using it to engage in activities of...

They had to make sure the bad guy kill a loyal assistant, both to show that he's tying up loose ends before leaving, and to make sure the audience realizes how bad he is. I think that's the first cliche they teach in action writing. The next one is to take the two hot women and make sure you...

I see no particular resemblance between this new note and Monopoly money. Even if there were, I'm not sure that would be a bad thing. In Monopoly, the different colors mean it's pretty easy to look at a pile of cash and get a sense of whether it's mostly $100 bills or $1 bills. This can help...