DISQUS

You didn't address battery life, of which the Air only has 5 piddly hours. They could have ditched that core 2 duo for something more energy efficient and gone all Solid state on the disk and actually had a market to sell to. Now it's only marketable to people with too much money as it needs a dongle for EVERYTHING, including ethernet, DVD, etc. Not having ethernet is just plain stupid. Apple fails on this one. The first major computer with 10+ hours of battery life without an extended battery pack that sells for less than $2000 will win, if it doesn't already exist.

For the record, I quit soda and TV quite a while ago (2 years), but I still watch TV shows from time to time like I watch movies from time to time - to what degree did you quit TV since there are many different degrees of this, mine being one of the most lax?

I also eat meat, but enjoy a fairly fibrous diet. None of my relatives that I know of have lived for over 100 years, but most made it well into their 80's even if they smoked. I don't smoke, drink beer moderately, but avoid hard alcohol (I'm not in college anymore). I am not yet married, and do not have kids.

It would be interesting to have a website dedicated to tracking people's lifestyle anonymously (habits adn practices like you listed) that measured their lifespan. You'd have to have the cooperation of governments to verify time and cause of death for their profiles. That would be really handy (and morbid). I keep thinking back to this picture, and wonder if Facebook will ever integrate this sort of thing into their application:

http://www.creativebinge.co.uk/blog/wp-content/...

Thanks for the thought-provoking discussion. I may have to subscribe to this blog.

I have to admit that guns are not the only answer to home defense - I'm glad you are taking other precautions as necessary. I'm just worried about the other 80% of people out there (completely made up statistic) that do not take any precaution whatsoever to protect their homes. Self defense is becoming less and less of a popular concern in today's US society, and it's enabling home intrusions to be child's play. I wasn't commenting to start an argument as much as to understand your stance on that issue. I also live in a place where gun ownership is extremely difficult, yet I managed to get a gun for my home. I do not have children, and perhaps I'll do the same as my father did when I do (he sold his .45 when I was 3, but we had rifles and shotguns). In certain states, they require you to attempt to hide in a "panic room", which is determined to be the safest place in the home, if you discover an intruder in your home. I am vehemently against this policy - if someone is in my home stealing my possessions, I deserve to be able to take action based on my 2nd and 4th amendment rights.

Good article though - don't let the Jesus freaks get to you :).

The claim that women and children are more likely to be harmed by having a gun in the home is pretty much false if you use proper precautions (trigger guards, etc.). Kellerman claims that having a gun in the home increases the chances of a homicide in the home by 2.7 times! But, that's only if you are a criminal who uses drugs and has a history of violence, which doesn't sound like you. And if you teach your family about guns rather than hiding it and forbidding it from your kids, they will learn to respect it, and will lose their curiosity.

From http://www.guncite.com/gun-control-kellermann-3...
"As mentioned, a reasonable estimate of gun victims killed by a gun from the victim's home is 34%. However, this number drops to 12.6% when households having a prior arrestee are excluded, and drops further to 7% when households with prior arrests, illicit drug use, or a history of violence are excluded. (That's 3.5% of all matched cases. Likewise, the previously mentioned 4½ percent figure of all homicides involving a victim killed by a gun in the home falls to 2.1%.)"

What would you do if a burgler came into your house? Hide? Attack him with a sword? I don't like the idea of hiding.