(no subject)

[moominmolly]

Oh, yes! My recent visitor brought me two presents that made my commute so much nicer: new skate bearings and an adapter for my several pounds of previously useless electronic appliances.

Now, my skates are fast and I can listen to music on my way in. And I can *also* finally use my laptop and my digital camera. Whoopee!

Comments

[srd.livejournal.com]

Uhm, you didn't know that european electricity has twice the power of american electricity? I hope you didn't fry anything.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

No, he brought me a converter, which I'd completely neglected to pack. So I hadn't been able to use anything until he brought that. Now, I can use things without frying 'em.

So yay!

[srd.livejournal.com]

Yay to actually be able to use them during the potential last few hours of your stay :)

But isn't it strange that the US always has to go it's own way in the western world?
110V vs 220V
Fahrenheit vs Celcius
imperial vs metric (yeah, the US is imperialistic, no need to deny it ;) )
different region codes in game consoles and DVDs
$ vs €
45/55 mph vs. 180 km/h
al qaida vs. lots of federal, local terrorist groups

Things could be so much easier if it were all standarized. So stop resisting us. Resistance is futile. Disarm all your bigots. Your industry will have to entertain us. We will civilize your culture and technology.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

OK, so all of those are silly (and you forgot cell phones), but:

different region codes in game consoles and DVDs

What is UP with this one, huh? That bugs the piss out of me.

Milking the consumer

[srd.livejournal.com]

For DVDs it's simply $$$.
Thing is, the movies that are playing in the US right now, come to europe 2-6 months later (due to synchronization and general fucking with the consumers - after all europe isn't really part of the world, right?), around the time the videos/dvds hit the rentals and stores. So the studios try to prevent europeans from getting the video/dvd right away, and get lots and lots of cash from the cinema rental fees (prices for one film are between 300 - 900$/day/copy in germany, from what I've heard from someone who works at a cinema).

In game consoles: I have no idea. Ninendo already had that in their original 8-bit NES (I castrated mine a while ago, so it's effectively region-code free now). I somehow doubt that the same arguments apply...