The VW in the 70-mph contest is a Rabbit and Clarkson's first name is Jeremy. ;-)

Good night, old friend.

but wasn't your last article a long complaint that by advertising in Olympic events, McDonalds is doing harm to the collective? And that no decent athlete could possibly want that harm incorporated in his diet?

Now you write that athletes should be allowed steroids and that it would have been on your menu had you had the opportunity.

I'm just sort of stunned by the "combination" of those claims; Steroid use and it's effect on young people, OK. Big Mac, bad.

Huh.

I'm curious how McDonalds got you so angry.

I'm glad that Salon is filled with writers who have taken it upon themselves to inform the otherwise gullible populace that a steady diet of McDonalds is "bad for you". Because clearly, they all think it's health food.

As "outsidecounsel" noted, McDonalds has a significant number of things going for it, and as (oh no!) a distance runner, I'm well aware of what too much of it can cause.

But wait, what about Coca Cola? They sell in schools, lobby districts, and you can dissolve a tooth in the stuff in a week, I think.

Do you then advocate a rule that only athletic-related things should be advertised in the olympics? Sounds odd.

Between this article and the one in which Andrew O'heir rants about young artists being perverted by Nike's (paid) request to have them design a shoe...

I'm beginning to wonder how Salon can take money from the US Air Force for advertisement.

Maybe the author could explain that plurality then... after all, she came from marketing, right?

Oh, and Kobe DOES actually wear HyperDunks in his own time. He's pretty proud of his role in their design. Heaven forbid....

Do you own an Apple iPod, drink Pepsi, buy cool cheap-but-good design from Target?

This design is what you hate that Pepsi and Nike are trying to buy for their products and marketing. Would you rather products today be devoid of design? You call it a commodity, but it's a necessary part of the aesthetics that Americans under 50 want in their products.

What I hear is that the artists you like should stay struggling. The artists you don't like should be the one's working design and art for corporations. That seems... arbitrary.

Sure they struggle with their decision. For all the money they are being paid, they are expected to apply their art to something they may not love. I have to do the same, as do you. Our "arts" just arent as cool... but they all pay the mortgage and get our kids through school.

-Chris

A life-long PC user, I recently bought the fast 2.8GHz 24" iMac because of the physical layout and it's ability to sit on a counter with few other cables.

We love the iPhoto program and the other photography applications... but there is one thing that just bugs the living c@%^ out of us.

This thing froze solid about once a day until we backed off Time Machine. Now it only freezes solid once every 3 or 4 days. We have the latest Leopard and updates. The only software we have on it that isnt apple is some HDR stuff thats never active.

Honestly, I think Windows 95 was more stable. Fast? Yes, this thing is rocking fast. 97% of the time.

Who sold the stuff that the banks, etc. bought?

Hasn't Lufthansa been offering Wi-fi internet on many of their trans-atlantic Airbusses for a couple years?

I've used it for a few trips I've taken but there are two gotchas:

- The wireless doesnt work on about 1/2 the flights (stewardesses, while German, arent good NetAdmins), and the ground crew is worried about the landing gear, not the router.

- The amount of time your laptop will poke along on WiFi with a battery is about 1/2 of the normal battery time. On these 10 hour flights, you get about 1/5th of the time to use the net.

While some of you may be shocked, it hasn't changed the flight social dymanics. The guy spending all his time on his laptop on the net was probably going to spend it on a spreadsheet anyways.

You guys really are either comically sensitive, superlative rich, or only get riled up behind a keyboard.

-Chris

I just read your article about the unfounded dislike of Journey. Now you heap hate on Techno/House/Trance.

I listen to a mix of pop, techno, and rock while I work out (which I do a lot), but I find that most gyms place classic rock. I have no issue with with classic rock while I'm working on the car or driving an old pick-up... I *personally* don't like it while I run.

Nike has taken on the "music while you work out" thing with all they've got, and they have a huge number of mixes to offer to match with their Nike+ system. ( http://nikeplus.nike.com ). They even paid LCD Soundsystem to build the 45:33 or whatever its called. From the look of it, they've thought about what people want to work out to. Sure, some of it is "new enlightened" music like the Presets, Cut Copy, the New Pornographers, etc... but a majority of it is still driving electronic music spanning from LCD Soundsystem and Crystal Method to the Benassi Bro.'s.

I think they've spent some time looking into what people would workout to, if they could. I didn't see Journey anywhere ;)