point taken on the confederate flag thing... I can understand why you feel that way (although I don't agree with it).

Most, if not all, types of vehicles have the so-called owner snobbishness. The Toyota Prius screams to me: I'm saving the environment. What are YOU doing?". The Honda Element and Scion Xb say: "I'm a trendy youth who wants to be different, just like everybody else." And don't get me started on Volkwagen.

We (my family) also own a Pontiac Trans Am, and my daily driver Is a Mazdaspeed Protege. I just use the Suburban for work (I often need to go to sites that are a bit "remote" and tow heavy equipment).

Face it, unusual vehicles are for people who want to be noticed, to stand out. Vehicles like the hummer, prius, exotic sportscars, large pickup trucks, etc. may have a purpose, but most of their owners just want them to stand out.

you may find this article of interest: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/07/prius_politics.html
I don't care what that sites "slant" is, I think they have a point.

These arguments extend beyond cars. One thing i've noticed here on campus (UC) is that Apple users are quite flamboyant. Now, i'm not talking about the type that uses the machine because they need the PowerPC architecture for the power, or the unix OS for the security and development tools. I'm talking about the type that use the system simply because they want to be *different*.

There's nothing wrong with Macs, I would love to own one (they are too expensive for me). I don't even care if you buy one simply for the designer hardware. But for the love of God, don't rub the fact that I use a cheap Hewlett Packard in my face. If it weren't for the shoddy ATI support, and worthless broadcom wireless, it would be the perfect laptop for me. (I'm just talking about laptops here. I probably have 15 or 20 incomplete desktops in my basement, and a very nice compaq vr-evolution workstation) I have better things to do than play games, anyway, and pcmcia cards are cheap.

Forgive me, I'm an electrical engineer and a bit of a nerd when it comes to computers.

love the blog, btw.