Very funny video with a car :)

Mythbuster Jamie recommends Ubuntu over Vista's bloat.

Computer operating systems loaded with stuff I don't want and will never use. In the tech world this phenomenon is known as “software bloat” or “feature bloat.” It's a well-documented problem and a frequent complaint about Windows OSs—Vista in particular. In addition to being buggy, the extra features tend to bog down your system by demanding more processing power and memory. Computer-makers: Don't load up operating systems with features and then make us sweat to figure out how to get rid of the fat.

Most features can be set up as options. Why not start with a computer loaded with basic stuff that works 100 percent of the time? Then, give us the option of adding the bells and whistles. There's another solution available to consumers: Switch to a Linux-based OS such as Ubuntu. Since most Linux OSs are free, there's no business reason to bloat up the system with feature frills.

And high-tech companies—stop messing with us on your treadmill of upgrades while making the old stuff obsolete. It may be that any software company that didn't routinely upgrade its product would go out of business. But what if the rest of the world worked this way? Oh, I lost a sock. I need to get a whole new wardrobe because the replacement sock is version 2.0.1, and the stores now only sell version 2.0.3.

Automobiles with obnoxious electronics.

There are all sorts of things that are being built into cars that are really bugging a lot of us. We all like new cars with technology that improves handling, speed, mileage, safety and comfort. Designers are working hard to deliver that kind of tech. But I don't like all the beeping and buzzing electronics that are being put into cars—and I know I'm not alone. When a car's electronic junk harasses me with beeps until I buckle up a seatbelt around a box I'm carrying on the passenger seat, then there's a problem. And why on earth can a car lock me in automati­cally? If I want to get out of my car quickly, darn it, I should be able to. We should have control over these things. If I want to be nagged by my car, I'll turn on a nag button.

Cars designed to make it tough to do maintenance.

One late-model sedan I worked on required the removal of a front wheel, plus a bunch of other stuff, just to replace the battery. These days, opening the hood of most cars is enough to give me a headache.

Batteries, filters, fuses and other parts that wear out or need to be serviced should be easily accessible. If the carmakers can install all those oh-so-convenient comfort controls, do they really need to make me do gymnastics to change the oil?

I could go on, but you get the point. We all know companies are in a race to find smarter, faster, slicker technology, but do they ­really want to pursue that goal at the expense of consumers? Can't we all just be friends and play nice?

To my mind, engineering is a high art, and it brings tears to my eyes to see it so disrespected at times by the marketing and legal departments of corporations. Ideally, form is supposed to follow function, and designing and manufacturing consumer products should be a collaborative process. Com­panies, it's time to wake up and pay attention to your engineers—and to your customers.

Will Bonds, Clemens play in 2008?

One is an 11-time All-Star who leads all active pitchers in wins. The other holds the career record for home runs and is a 14-time All-Star, including last season.

Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds have more in common than their records and star-studded resumes, however, as both free agents have yet to sign 2008 contracts, and their status for the coming season remains very much in doubt.

Will they play? At this point, perhaps not even Clemens and Bonds can say for certain.

Clemens:

If Clemens, who turns 46 in August, returns for a 25th season, it apparently won't be with the Yankees. Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner told the New York Daily News that he would not re-sign the right-hander. Clemens went 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) for the Yankees last season, after signing a pro-rated, $28 million contract on May 6. He made his first start in June.

Hamstring and groin problems dogged Clemens last season, as his innings total was his lowest since 1985, when he made 15 starts for Boston as a 22-year-old.

Obviously, age, price and last year's injuries aren't the only factors impacting this situation. Clemens' status regarding his naming in the Mitchell Report is another issue that potential suitors will want to see resolved satisfactorily before making a bid for Clemens, who has 354 career wins to his credit. But, before any of these hurdles are faced, another one is Clemens himself. Does he want to go through the grind he must endure to pitch again?

If you saw him in his press conference in Houston earlier this month, Clemens sounded like a man ready to retire. Then again, he has un-retired before.

Retirement is the odds-on choice at the moment, but assuming the seven-time Cy Young Award winner does decide to pitch one more year, and resolves the other issues, where would he likely land? In recent seasons, Clemens has limited his options to three teams: the Yankees, Red Sox and Houston.

The Yankees are out -- at least for now -- and the Red Sox, with one of the deeper rotations in baseball, are set. That could leave Houston as a possible destination if the Astros get off to a good start. Clemens has a personal services contract with his hometown team that begins when he retires, and perhaps could be convinced to pitch in and help if the Astros need him later this summer.

Bonds:

The Giants have already cut ties with Bonds, whose status for 2008 is in doubt after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice for allegedly lying when he said he did not use performance-enhancing drugs in testimony given before another grand jury in 2003. Bonds is free on a $500,000 bond.

Oakland was a potential landing site for Bonds, but after trading away Dan Haren, Nick Swisher and Mark Kotsay the A's are clearly in a rebuilding mode and thus unlikely to go after Bonds, even assuming he puts his legal troubles behind him.

And yet, if Bonds' off-the-field issues are resolved, there is no reason to think another team wouldn't be interested in adding his bat to the lineup for a pennant race. The seven-time National League Most Valuable Player Award winner batted .276 with 28 homers and 66 RBIs in 340 at-bats last season, and led the league in walks, on-base percentage and on-base plus slugging. He doesn't turn 44 until July, which makes you think Bonds would have another productive season at the plate, especially if he doesn't have the legal problems following his every step.

As with Clemens, retirement seems to be the likely destination for Bonds. But, if he resolves the legal problems, don't rule out his landing a designated hitter job with a contender next season.

Other unsigned notables:

Bartolo Colon: Colon is coming back from shoulder problems, and has been scouted by the Indians, Mets, Royals and White Sox, but so far the former Cy Young Award winner hasn't found a home.

White Sox general manager Ken Williams admitted during Sunday's final SoxFest Town Hall Meeting at the Palmer House Hilton that he sent manager Ozzie Guillen to the Dominican Republic recently in order to watch Colon on the mound. Guillen came away impressed enough for the team to make Colon "an incentive-based offer, with a low-base salary," according to Williams, which could increase if Colon got healthy and pitched close to his vast capabilities.

"We couldn't find him. His agent couldn't find him," said Williams of Colon, 34, who posted a 15-13 record and a career-high nine complete games during his lone season with the White Sox in 2003. "The offer was designed to get him into the mix and create some competition -- not saying he would get the job. He didn't seem very interested in such a deal."

Livan Hernandez: The Mets are the front-runners to land the right-hander, who was 11-11 with a 4.93 ERA for Arizona last season. Hernandez would join his half-brother Orlando in the New York rotation and perhaps preclude the Mets from pursuing Minnesota left-hander Johan Santana.

Mike Piazza: Piazza, 39, hit .275 with eight homers and 44 RBIs in 309 at-bats for Oakland last season, but, with the emergence of Jack Cust and the A's rebuilding, the veteran declined arbitration.

David Wells: Wells, who turns 45 in May, won four of seven starts for the Dodgers late last season, but, so far, interest in the lefty has been tepid at best. The Reds discussed Wells, but, so far, nothing is imminent on that front.

Kris Benson, Freddy Garcia: Both pitchers are coming off injuries and may not be ready until the season begins.

10 Things You Did Not Know About Sea Shore

1. The shore seems to be the edge of the continent, but that's not true: the continents continue under the sea, on a strip edging each continent, and called continental shelf. How much of the continental shelf is covered by the sea depends on how much ice is stocked in the Polar Ice.

2. Around 10,000 years ago, the polar ice caps were much larger and the sea level was much lower, so that Britain was united to Europe and Alaska to Siberia. The melting of the ice at the end of the Ice Age raised the sea level by 7 mm annually. In 10,000 years, this meant 7 m (23 ft). The Dover Strait of the English Channel, 36 m (120 ft) deep, was covered by sea 8,000 years ago. Behring Strait between Alaska and Siberia is at least 45 m (150 ft) deep.

The shore line has continuously changed along the Earth's history. The line coast is also modified by the tectonic movements. The Pacific plate enters continuously under the South American one (process called subduction), through a deep sinkhole near the
shore. Andes Mountains descend abruptly close to the shore, and in some places, there is no shore. These slow changes occur along millions of years.

3. Waves' action can be seen from one year to another. Waves are caused by winds and influenced by the tides. Tides are caused by the gravitational force of the Moon. The Moon attracts the water mass beneath; this way the high tide emerges. The low tide appears when Moon force does not act. There are differences between the levels of the tide between Full Moon and New Moon, when the Moon and the Sun are located on the same ax with the Earth, on one side or another. In this situation, the gravitational forces sum. This happens twice a month. The tides are minimal when the gravitational force of the Moon makes a right angle with the gravitational force of the Sun. This also happens twice a month, when the Moon is found in its first and last quarter.

4. Most shores experience two high tides daily. In some regions, like southeastern Asia, this happens just once a day. Tides are very small on lakes and seas surrounded by lands, like the Great Lakes of North America and the Mediterranean Sea. Baltic and Black Sea do not have tides (almost) at all.

5. Hurricanes and other devastating storms produce killer waves, but the most devastating are those produced by underwater earthquakes, called tsunamis. If the tsunami strikes a shallow shore, its height can reach 25 m (83 ft) and destroys everything on land.

6. Sea currents and waves use sand and gravel to grind the shore continuously, destroying its rock base. Soft rocks are destroyed faster. If the base of the rock coast is eroded by waves, the upper parts will crumble. The broken rocks are taken by the waves. The best transporting waves are the short and abrupt ones which emerge close to the shore during the winter storms. They can have a force of 10 kg per square meter. Summer storms produce longer, stretched waves away of the shore. These waves carry more sand and gravel to the shore than what they bring back at the return, so that they actually build a new shore, not destroy it. Some destruction and construction can occur on the same place, like in Cap Canaveral (Florida), where waves build a new gulf while nearby they form a peninsula.

The action angle of the waves affects the sedimentation and abrasion of the waves. When waves reach the shore under certain angles, they depose sediments. The sea takes from one place and deposes onto another. This way, the length of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is growing.

The grinding of soft rocks creates caves, rock tunnels, and if their roof crumbles, then blowers appear. In some places, waves dig chambers in the sides of the peninsulas. In time, the chambers can join each other, forming an abrasive gait or a spectacular rock bridge.

7. In Netherlands, over 1900 km (1190 mi) of dikes and sand dunes protect fertile land against sea flooding. Amsterdam and Rotterdam are located on islands recovered from the sea, called polders. In 1927, Dutch people started to transform the huge golf Zuider Zee in fertile land. A 32 km (20 mi) long dam at his entrance turned into a freshwater lake: Ijsellmeer. Dikes marked inside the lake 5 large polders, water being pumped out of them. Soil was washed of salt, and now agriculture is practiced there.

8. Islands are of two main categories. Some separate from a continent, like Great Britain and Ireland. These islands are located on continental shelves and if sea level decreased, they would be connected to the mainland.

Other islands are volcanic: they are the top of volcanoes raising from the sea bottom. This is the case of Hawaii or Azores Archipelagos.

9. Coral islands form over submarine volcanoes, sometimes, edging the submarine volcanoes, raising very little above the water. They only form in warm waters, being produced by the calcareous skeleton of tiny animals called coral polyps. The polyps form colonies of millions of individuals to a maximum depths of 30 m (100 ft). After their death, their skeletons form the coral banks. If the bank forms at the edge of a crater, the island has a ring shape and is called atoll. The atoll surrounds a saltwater lagoon. The ring breaks in several places, so that the lagoon is directly connected to the sea. Broken coral transforms into calcium carbonate sand. This will form the base of the soil on coral islands. On the external part of the atoll, the shore is thin and the sea deepens abruptly. On the inner side, the shore is more gentle and most lagoons are shallow.

Coral barriers form at a certain distance from the shore and between them and the shore there is a long lagoon. The coral barrier, too, can be interrupted, especially close to river mouths (corals lack in these areas because the sediments discharged by the rivers kill them; they need clean waters for their photosynthetic symbiont algae). The most famous is the Australian Great Coral Barrier, next to Queensland (northeastern Australia).

10. Mangrove forests appear in tropical coasts devoid of powerful waves.