A Good Grudge

As my friends and relations know, I yield to no one when it comes to harbouring resentment and nursing grudges.

Which is why this post by the Anchoress hit one out of the park today. Loving your enemies is truly where the rubber hits the road for us Christians. It is also the hardest thing for me to do, by a long shot.

The problem is that you can not just say, once, "I forgive" and move on. The loser who unjustly vilified my wife still causes flashes of extreme anger in me, and she has been retired now for three years. Letting go the blind fury, not giving into it, is easily the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Even though it is the right thing to do.

Song for a Gray Friday

October Computer Building

One of my hobbies is building computers, so from time to time I like to build concept machines. This being October, a young man's fancy turns to computer gaming. I generally price things out at Newegg. Their prices are generally competitive and the reviews are top notch.

Much like the divide between Windows and Macs, computer builders are divided between those who like Intel processors and those who like AMD processors. Because I am a CPU agnostic, I have described a build for each denomination.

The Intel Build
I7-860 Lynnfield 2.8 GHz CPU $289.99
Asus P7P55D LGA motherboard $149.99
EVGA Geforce 260 GTX video $189.99
Seagate Barracuda 1 TB HD $79.99
NZXT Alpha case $59.99
Corsair 750w power supply $119.99
Sony DVD player $31.99
OCZ memory (4 gigs) $71.99

Total: $993.92

The AMD Build
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb CPU $169.99
Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 motherboard $74.99
EVGA Geforce 260 GTX video $189.99
Seagate Barracuda 1 TB HD $79.99
NZXT Alpha case $59.99
Corsair 750w power supply $119.99
Sony DVD player $31.99
OCZ memory (4 gigs) $71.99

Total: $798.92

I recommend Ubuntu as an OS, but if you must have Windows, you can find Windows Vista Home Premium for around $109. This includes the free upgrade to Win 7 when it ships (later this month).

There is also a divide between NVidia and ATI for video cards. I do not like ATI, for a variety of reasons, right now. So I did not include their cards in my consideration. That will likely change in the near future.

Right now, the AMD build is more affordable, but IMHO the Intel build offers better upgrade potential for the future. Both builds have some nice rebates hidden away. I never include mail-in rebates as part of the cost as there is no certainty that you will ever get the money.

Health Insurance Tax

Am I the only one who has a problem with fining/taxing people who have no insurance or insurance deemed inadequate?

While there may very well be a small number of contrary minded scofflaws, the vast majority of people who will be liable for the tax will be the working poor. That is, the hard-working people who just miss the cut-off for government assistance.

Just who exactly does such a tax help?