ratin likes mouses 

Compusa.com is having a decent sale on a 52" Phillips HDTV 1080p 1920x1080 for $1000 - any idea how good that particular model/brand is?

* 52-inch LCD with a 16:9 aspect ratio
* 33,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
* True 1080p signal compatibility
* Integrated USB port
* Settings assistant
* Pixel Plus HD
* Four HDMI inputs 

Only 30000:1 contrast? Lol, the colors will look like shite on it. 

Can't help you - the concept of spending that much on a tv is mind blowing to me right now... 

I looked at the price tag on the TV, then looked at a news clip about Haiti, then back to the TV, and I think I would just feel like an asshole if I purchased it. 

You are doing it wrong, such purchases are supposed to make you feel better about yourself, unless you are the kind of person who actually spends time wondering how it's "wrong" that in a day of active use, your gaming videocard alone uses as much electricity as an average african family in about 6 months.

Note: you don't have to give a shit. Really. 

The way to look at it, IMO, is that Haiti is not my problem to fix. Now, I sent money to Doctors Without Borders because I wanted to but it wasn't out of a sense of guilt. I wanted to help those people so I did it in the only way that I realistically can.

Buy whatever you like, Haiti or any other world disaster is not your personal responsibility. Donate if you feel strongly about what happened, though. 

You only care about Haiti because you saw it on television. You did not care about the people's situation before. You should buy a bigger TV so when the next natural disaster is live, you can more than now. 

 

Well, they didn't HAVE this situation before. Their entire capital city is leveled and there's something like 100,000+ dead. This isn't an every day occurrence in Haiti. 

If I bought the tv I would just be watching the suffering of millions of Haitians in glorious 52" 1080p HD. That would bother me. 

I generally feel guilty when I buy big-budget items, because I normally do so when I don't need to. I mean, I don't know if I ever need to, but the point being it's sort of a "I should have saved my money" feeling instead. 

Zwiffle

Well, that's a different issue. If you aren't saving any money and you buy something like that then, yeah, maybe you're being dumb. 

Well I do save, but not as much as I think I should be saving, considering the economy and stuff. I would like to have enough saved up to cover me for a few months if things go sour. 

at least with a CRT, you could live in the box when things go sour. LCD boxes are too thin. 

also, as a self-righteous communist (aka humanities graduate) - JOKING - I think there's a good argument that most people in the west live way above what a reasonable standard of living would be before you start putting your money toward fixing some of the world's many problems. One person can't change much, but when I do make money that I consider above that standard, I'll feel better knowing that this extra money will be going toward getting rid of corruption, stupidity, and the particular combination of both known as religion. 

do you have a model number? tvs vary drastically even within the samr brand?

at a rough guess though, $1000 for a 52inch tv is either a ridiculous bargain or a not so great tv. Most cheap 1080p tvs only look good in 1080p (ie blu ray) and absolutely crap in SD (ie dvd, most regular tv). 

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5631256&CatId=3651 

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5631256&CatId=3651 

that look decent but how big is your room? 52 inch needs a fair bit of space, these tvs tend to look better from a distance, particularly for SD. at least 4-5m from the screen. 

Most western governments have pledged support/aid for Haiti. This will cost money. If you are a tax payer, it is your money. If you are a higher tax payer, it is more of your money, so feel good that you are doing something for them.

Meanwhile, don't feel bad about spending some of your earnings on yourself. It's why you sweat and toil throughout the days. 

FWIW, I have a 55" TV (old style, but still HD). It's awesome and I would recommend it to anyone. Games look AMAZING on a screen that size.

Mike

The same could also be argued that your taxes are already helping the poor and the hungry in your own country - but it's still helpful to give more when you're able. 

Mega-bank CEOs? 

You know what I mean. The government has a lot of charity programs so it could be argued that we're already donating to charity via taxes. Obviously, that's not a great argument though. 

I just watched part of a Half-Life speed run on YouTube and I was amazed at how expansive the levels were. I mean, he ran down corridor after corridor, rooms, air vents, pipes, etc. It just goes on and on. Sure, the detailing is very minimal but still ... makes me think that maybe I spend too much time worrying about interconnecting areas and should focus more on travel. Let the player move through a large structure that doesn't have tons of back tracking. It's just large. You know?