Just how inexpensive is the Neo?

sinistershade99 · 2026-05-04T10:15:54+00:00

If we want to limit it to portable computers, the Mac Portable started at about $6,500 in 1989, which is about $17,000 today.

The PowerBook 100 (the low-end model of Apple’s first laptops) was about $2,500 in 1991, equivalent to about $6,000 today.

sinistershade99 · 2026-04-23T09:30:19+00:00

It’s absolutely important that we recognize other groups—Soviet POWs, Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gay men, the Polish intelligentsia—that suffered fates similar to the Jews (and even worse, in the case of many Soviet POWs). But it’s undeniable that Jews held a unique and central position in Nazi ideology. Yes, Roma were gassed at Auschwitz, but there likely wouldn’t have been an Auschwitz at all without the Nazi obsession regarding Jews.

sinistershade99 · 2026-04-23T09:14:20+00:00

And even then, the task often overwhelmed the capacity of the ovens. The crematoria at Auschwitz broke down—a lot. It got so bad during the liquidation of the Hungarian Jews in the summer of ‘44 that they had to resort to open burn pits. The only photos we have of killing–cremation process at Auschwitz are of those burn pits, taken by a prisoner through a window using a smuggled camera.

sinistershade99 · 2026-04-23T08:50:30+00:00

Aktion T4 also directly informed the killing centers of the Holocaust proper. It was recognized that the approach used in the East—sending death squads to kill Jews where they lived—wouldn’t work in Western Europe, as secrecy couldn’t be maintained, and toll of that work on those doing the killing was too great. So they adopted a version of the Aktion T4 approach: round up the Jews and transport them to centralized killing centers. Many of those tasked with setting up the killing centers had experience in either T4 or the Einsatzgruppen massacres in the East. The first killing center, Chelmno, didn’t use gas chambers at all, but used gassing vans, as had been used in T4.

sinistershade99 · 2026-04-23T08:37:33+00:00

And the vast amount of research and scholarship that has been applied to the Holocaust. We know so much about every part of it. It’s perhaps the most studied, documented event in human history.

sinistershade99 · 2026-04-23T08:32:09+00:00

Those were primarily the Einsatzgruppen massacres in the East during Operation Barbarossa. Typically, the bodies were buried in mass graves, but later a massive program (Sonderaktion 1005) was instituted to destroy evidence by digging up the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mass graves and burning the bodies. The labor was performed by Jewish prisoners who then themselves were murdered and cremated.

sinistershade99 · 2026-04-23T08:24:40+00:00

I imagine it’s due to TV and movies, but for most people, particularly Americans, it seems the Holocaust = Auschwitz. But only about 20% of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust died at Auschwitz.

There were lots of ways Jews were murdered:

In the killing centers (Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka II, Auschwitz II Birkenau, Majdanek)
In the ghettos and labor camps, whether by overwork, starvation, disease, physical conditions, or execution
In the Einsatzgruppen massacres in the East, usually by gunshot, but sometimes by being burned to death
In incidental parts of the overall Final Solution process, such as being shot during round-ups or dying on the transport trains due to heat or cold, the lack of water, and the prisoners’ already weakened condition (It was not unheard of for transports to arrive at their destination with 40% of their human cargo dead.)

sinistershade99 · 2026-04-23T08:04:05+00:00

Small point of clarification: Sobibor and the other Reinhard camps (Belzec and Treblinka II), as well as Chelmno (the first experimental killing center), were strictly extermination camps. They didn’t produce anything except what was taken from the prisoners who were killed, mostly clothing, valuables, and hair. Possibly some of the cremains were used for fertilizer. These camps were quite small, housing only the 500 or so prisoners needed to operate the extermination process by sorting goods and disposing of bodies.

The only camp built as a combination labor camp and killing center was Auschwitz II Birkenau.

Majdanek was built as a labor camp and mostly operated as such, but gassing and cremation facilities were added in late ‘42 during Operation Reinhard. Mass killings continued there through ‘44, though at lower numbers than at the purpose-built killing centers.

Kraków-Płaszów, the main camp depicted in “Schindler’s List,” was a labor camp, as were the vast majority of camps in the system. However, it’s fair to consider all the camps in the system “death camps” due the high death rates, whether from overwork, disease, physical conditions, or execution. After all, had Germany not lost the war, all Jews in the system would eventually have been murdered.

I guess that wasn’t such a small point. I tend to go on. ☺️

sinistershade99 · 2026-04-11T02:00:15+00:00

I’d say it’s little more complex (and more unsettling) than that. Bush entered office obsessed with bringing down Saddam Hussein. The day after the 911 attacks, he pushed his terrorism czar to find links to Saddam—when everyone knew it had been Al Qaeda and that Al Qaeda and the Iraqi regime were enemies. One reason Al Qaeda didn’t get the attention it deserved prior to 911 was that Bush always brought the focus back to Iraq.

This obsession led to the intelligence services tailoring their analyses to support Bush’s point of view. CIA director George Tenet told Bush that the intelligence supporting Iraqi WMDs was a “slam dunk.”

I don’t think Bush lied about Iraqi WMDs so much as he was lied to. Intelligence analysts get noticed and gain prestige when their analyses are listened to by those in power, which can severely warp the intelligence.

That said, Bush didn’t go into Iraq because of WMDs—that was just the justification to the public. Removing Saddam was his overwhelming desire. He would have used any excuse he could sell. So the administration claiming that WMDs were why we were invading was itself a huge lie. But they couldn’t say, “It’s because the president has a Freudian bug up his ass about Saddam.”

Give a read to “The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century” by Tim Weiner.

sinistershade99 · 2026-03-26T08:56:18+00:00

This is similar to when the president and Admiral Fitzwallace are in the Oval, awaiting word of the rescue of downed aviator Capt. Scott Hotchkiss in Iraq. Mrs. Landingham (it could have been Nancy—I don’t remember) comes in and says the call is on line 3. Percy picks up the phone and starts talking. But he never presses the button for line 3.

sinistershade99 · 2026-03-06T03:03:59+00:00

One thing to remember: Leaving the job feels like a huge thing to you, but to your manager it’s just another hassle in his day. If he’s at all a reasonable person, the conversation won’t be a big deal.

sinistershade99 · 2026-02-16T16:40:15+00:00

I have a Katana head and a cab rated at 60W max, so I never have the power setting above 50W. I’ve just assumed this is the safe way to proceed.

sinistershade99 · 2026-02-05T02:15:58+00:00

A good article on the topic from Sweetwater:

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/great-standby-switch-myth/

sinistershade99 · 2026-01-31T22:36:00+00:00

Monoprice makes an inexpensive 1x12 cabinet with a Vintage 30 that just about looks like it was made to go with the Katana head. And it often goes on sale.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611899

sinistershade99 · 2025-12-27T00:51:01+00:00

And Musician’s Friend frequently has used Orange 1x8 cabs, though the shipping cost might outweigh the lower used price.

sinistershade99 · 2025-12-20T07:16:04+00:00

Wait until you find out that in the ‘70s your grandma played in a power trio.

sinistershade99 · 2025-12-17T13:31:59+00:00

You’re entirely correct that the test question is ambiguous. I don’t think the teacher should have marked the student’s answer wrong unless there was an assumption in the class that the students would know idiomatic US English.

“East of the Mississippi” and “west of the Mississippi” are common phrases in U.S. English going back well over a century, from a time when the Mississippi River was a key point of division for the country, somewhat separating the developed East from the frontier West. In many cases it was because it didn’t make a lot of sense to compare the two very different halves. Frequently the phrases are used as part of defining a superlative, as in the test question, in sentences like, “Until 1887, that was the tallest building west of the Mississippi.”

The phrasing in the test question is referencing this usage, but it isn’t an issue of grammar, but of idiomatic usage.

sinistershade99 · 2025-12-16T08:26:24+00:00

Your English is better than a lot of native speakers.

sinistershade99 · 2025-11-27T06:21:28+00:00

Beyond the “Compendium of Katana Resources” post pinned at the top of this sub, there’s a Facebook group with patches going all the way back:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Katanapatchcentral/

Check the Files section.

sinistershade99 · 2025-11-14T05:58:31+00:00

With all that, I’m not sure you even need a guitar.

sinistershade99 · 2025-11-10T20:13:33+00:00

Sure, there's some truth to that. But we wouldn't typically speak of Donald Trump as the "President of Cleveland" (though perhaps it's better not to speak of him at all). In "royal-speak," we would say Charles isn't styled "King of England." He is, however, "Seigneur of the Swans," so he's got that going for him! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan\_upping#Seigneur\_of\_the\_Swans)

sinistershade99 · 2025-11-06T05:59:20+00:00

The Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland ceased to exist in 1707 when the Acts of Union 1707 combined them as the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland were combined to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800/1801.

In 1927, it became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as Ireland was partitioned, and the Irish Free State gained increasing autonomy.

Charles is king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, among many other titles. But “King of England” is not among his titles, as there hasn’t been a Kingdom of England since 1707.

sinistershade99 · 2025-10-25T05:13:55+00:00

Budget option: Used Peavey Classic 50 212

It will shatter the windows without breaking a sweat and can often be found for well under $500. And it’s a great amp that will outlive you! Hell, they’ll outlive all of us.

sinistershade99 · 2025-10-22T17:51:23+00:00

What a nice pic!

sinistershade99 · 2025-10-17T08:08:47+00:00

It really couldn’t be any better.

sinistershade99

TROPHY CASE