"I'm what they call 'nouveau riche,' but then, it's only the "riche" that counts."

I have always regretted not buying an etching I saw in college. It featured a dissolute-looking '20s lady reclining on a chaise longue, with the caption "Nouveau is better than no riche at all."

But whay I'm saying is that money will get you a lot further in Anerica than pedigree, unlike England.

While this is true, I think that the point was that there is class here, that some people's money is greener than others.

I don't know from names of old money, but my point was -- a Gotti dollar and a Hilton dollar and a Kennedy dollar -- different dollars.

From an outside US PoV, I couldn't tell you who's WASP and who's not (all white Christians look the same? well, not that cold), but dude, there's a class system for sure.

I think WASP traditionally means a certain set of white-anglo-saxon-protestants, not everybody who meets that description.

the nouveaux riches in 1890 desperately wanted to be accepted by "old money". See Edith Wharton. By contrast, today the nouveaux riches are perfectly happy to hang out with each other. Donald Trump doesn't care if Mrs. Astor asks him to tea. Alva Vanderbilt (then new money) cared very much indeed.

Boston and Charleston and New York City all have established social elites that are difficult to break into; you have to have been born into the right family. The difference between the 21st century and the 19th century is that people outside those circles aren't particularly interested in breaking in. You weren't invited to the St. Cecelia Ball? Who cares? There's a better party being thrown at the brand-new country club.

Betsy, per usual, is saying this so much better than I am.

Can anyone here name a debutante from last season? Who wasn't kin? Odds are greater that your grandmother could have.

I'm not too sure where this "stealing movies" allegation is coming from.

So defeating the one view per purchase isn't stealing? I think I don't get PPV, then. I didn't realise you weren't prohibited from recording, and if you aren't, why use the term "defeat"?

Wait, Paris Hilton has Old Money pedigree?

Well, regardless of whether her money is Noveaux or Vieux, her newsworthiness is hardly society-pages material. Gossip, TV, or tabloid is more like it.

It seems to me that movies and television shows from the '60s and earlier were much more likely to mention old-money folk (and what they were up to) than movies and TV now....

I bet you can buy that DVD for money very close to the rental price, even now.

Hmm. Most DVDs cost anywhere from $12-ish to $20+, while rental at Blockbuster is (IIRC) $4-ish. Even if I'm misremembering, and it's $5, that's still 4 rentals to the price of buying one $20 DVD.

And what about the movies that you want to see once but have no desire to see over and over again? That's a waste of storage space as well as however much more it costs than a rental.

Now, what's the best method of hooking it up so I can listen in the car?

Maria, what kind of radio do you have in your car? Cause that's what it's dependent on. you can buy the radio tuner thing (which didn't work for ita) from Belkin. If you have a Denson (I think that's the brand), you can run a aux output from the radio.

Or you can go see a car radio guy and ask him.

Or if God has found a new substitute for Job.

I think my moral turpitude precludes me from being a Job figure.

I'm not sure that God's trying to teach me a lesson so much as he forgot to turn off the grill when he realized he was out of Pabst Blue Ribbon and went on a beer run, setting off a chain reaction of inconceivable events and leaving me sitting in the scorched driveway, nauseated, and muttering, "Dude, you suck."

what is great is that there are all the different options.