kim said the following on 23/02/2007 12:03:
Staples? Like I said, you're going to the wrong shops. Ebuyer has a Canon colour laser for £203.82, inc VAT. HP colour lasers start at £169.88, inc VAT.
The same items in the US will be $203.82 and $169.88 respectively. It doesn't matter what brand or what retailer you compare, the US price will always be half the UK price.
32" LCD: US $499, UK £499 21" W/S TFT: US $249, UK £249 Dell PC: US $500, UK £500 HP PC: US $299, UK £299 Audio CD: US $15, UK £15 DVD: US $20, UK £20 DVD player: US $60, UK £60 PC printer: US $50, UK £50 Blank DVD: US 25cents, UK 25pSame make and model in every case.
(kim)
Then you should know that the PC bundle quoted at $899 earlier in the thread would not cost =A31800, which it would by your 2x arithmetic.
MBQ
Quite recently, actually, as they can be reasonably competitive as far as the high street is concerned. That's where I got my =A3399 IBM Thinkpad. A couple of years ago they had the best deal I could find on the high street for a budget PC for one of the children. Most were on- board graphics but we wanted a seperate graphics card with a decent spec. Sometimes I like to be able to look at things, touch them, and walk away with them, rather than shopping on-line.
Their CD labels are *crap* though. Two different own brand packets had the labels "perforated" in different places, neither of which semed to match any label making software known to man. I'll Stick to Fellowes in future.
MBQ
Then you should know that the PC bundle quoted at $899 earlier in the thread would not cost £1800, which it would by your 2x arithmetic.
No, I said the US dollar price was x2, not the UK£ price. That is it would cost £899 here or $1800 (as near as makes no difference).
(kim)
Their CD labels are *crap* though. Two different own brand packets had the labels "perforated" in different places, neither of which semed to match any label making software known to man. I'll Stick to Fellowes in future.
Hmm, most people I know don't go near CD labels now, direct printing is the way to go (if hand written 'labels are no use), obviously if you don't need a new printer or don't value the health of your (or others) CD/DVD players YMMD...
The problem isn't that the global temperature right now is warmer than it has been in the past. The problem now is that the rate of change of global temperature is very significantly greater than we can comfortably deal with. It's OK now because we are passing though the "a little bit warmer" bit. The problem will come when we have passed through the "a little bit warmer" bit and enter the "it's too bloody hot" bit. Unless the rate of temperature increase starts slowing pretty darn soon, we're in trouble.
Robin
Yes, and that's because the Ross ice shelf is collapsing. That is a new phenomenon. It's not that particular one that's troubling, it's the collection of all these anomalies taken together that's troubling.
Ice cores taken in Greenland and the Antarctic show that previous warming/cooling episodes took on the order of 10,000 years and longer. These cycles were on the order of =/- 2 to 3 degrees. That's a long enough time and a small enough temperature change for ecosystems to adapt and change without catastrophic disruptions. More importantly for us, it's more than long enough for humans to adapt. Some anthropologists even argue that the rise of human civilisations is a consequence of just such a warming trend, in that it freed what are now temperate zones for human occupation and agriculture.
During the 1980s, when it became plain that the climate is a chaotic system (in the mathematical sense), some climate models showed that climate could flip in as little as 50-100 years. At the time, the climate modellers doubted that this would actually happen. Now, they're not so sure. There is "good evidence", that is, statistically significant data, that indicate we may be in the early stages of such a sudden flip. One line of evidence is that the surface temperature of the ocean has increased by more than 1 degree in the last quarter century, and that Arctic and Antarctic winter sea ice has shrunk by about a third during the same time. (And yes, there will be an ice-free Northwest Passage - the shipping companies and the governments that serve them are already "positioning themselves" to take advantage of it.) It's too early to be reasonably certain, though. However, by the time it's plain that it is happening, it will be too late. If it does happen, our great-grandchildren will curse us. Those few that are left, that is.
The ice caps are not melting. Yet. But the Greenland glaciers are retreating again, and have revealed traces of the Viking settlements that gave Greenland its name. The Antarctic glacier is also retreating, ie, thinning, which is why the Ross ice shelf is breaking up. (It's actually the floating foot of the glacier.)
Me, I prefer to plan in terms of worst case scenarios, not "let's cross that bridge when we come to it." There may be no bridge left to cross.
Simon, who's this "we"? It seems I know a good deal more about climate past and present than you do. (But then, I'm Canadian. Weather is a Canadian obsession. :-))
Actually, all of the UK is further north than half the population of Canada.
It has to do with the exchange rate vs the real purchasing power of the dollar and the pound. 1GBP has a purchasing power of about $1, and not only when it comes to computers. Actually, when it comes to food, housing, and transportation, it's less than $1, as I found out (once again) on our visit to the UK last September.
Why is the exchange rate so disproportionate to the purchasing power? Because the UK is still major player in international finance, and likely to remain so. That makes the GBP expensive. It's why the UK will not switch to the euro in the foreseeable future. The gummint may make nice pro-euro noises, but they rely on popular anti-euro sentiment to justify their foot-dragging.
snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote: [...]
Kim means that at 1GBP = 2$ exchange rate, the UK price is effectively doubled.
snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote: [...]
CD labels??? Wat dat???
I write on 'em with a Sharpie.
Wolf said the following on 23/02/2007 14:37:
Yet Canada is known for being cold, the UK isn't. Gulf Stream...
Quote "Mulitiply the US$ price by 2 and you have an idea what the same items from the same chainstore cost here"
US$ price (actually I think it was CDN) was $899. Multiply that by 2 =3D 1800
QED
Quote "Mulitiply the US$ price by 2 and you have an idea what the same items from the same chainstore cost here"
US$ price (actually I think it was CDN) was $899. Multiply that by 2 = 1800
Yes, dollars not pounds. I never said pounds, you did.
(kim)
at
The rate of temperature increase is by no means agreed. What I object to is catastrophic anthropogenic global warmimg being presented as done deal when it is far from it. Just like the global cooling that was being predicted 30 years ago, in some cases by the same people.
MBQ
Will that be when the rails all buckle in the heat and the trains come off the track?
The first hit I found on Froogle
Alan
In the winter and early spring icebergs are found as far south as 45°N [same as Bordeaux, Venice and Toronto] near Newfoundland, due to the Labrador current. This puts some icebergs in the main transatlantic shipping lane, a fact which proved fatal to the Titanic [which hit an iceberg at 42°N - same as Rome].
Yet even in winter the area between Norway and Svalbard is ice-free, notwithstanding its high latitude (about 77°N), on account of the Gulf Stream.
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