Space Cowboy

  VAX were all monochrome.   My point was „modern“ computer colors.  It seems to have been lost.  Oh well.  Carry on.

  SGI is long-dead :)

Yeah, the 1960s had some wild colors.   Edit - @starkebogen is correct.  Prior to the 1970s, there were red and blue IBM systems.  My apologies - that was before my time.   I checked the archives, and could not find any yellow systems that were actually sold.  Definitely some yellow systems in marketing pics.

    I was at Compaq when we bought Digital.  That was a catastrophic decision, and it pretty much defined the hardware industry for decades.  The decision ruined four companies (Compaq, Digital, HP, and Tandem) and sent the industry into a tailspin.   That decision was made by a German - Eckard Pfeiffer - whose stated goal was „World Domination“.   Go figure.

  Even Big Blue (IBM) never made an actual blue computer.  Sorry, dude.    

...about computer case colors (the color of the housing for your computer)?  Probably not...but it is actually a rather interesting if nerdy, subject.   For the first several decades of their existence, consumer electronics used wooden cases (radios, TVs, console stereo systems).  In the 1960s, manufacturers started using metal cases, but continued with faux wood tone on the outside until the late 1970s. Starting the late 1970s, consumer electronics switched to a more „industrial“ look, using silver-colored metal cases, then switching to black.  Over the past 50 years, consumer electronics manufacturers have switched every few years - silver, then black, then silver, then black, etc.   Computers were always considered to be „industrial“ devices.  Starting in the halcyon days of the mainframe and minicomputer, computer cases were always a variant of gray.  The first personal computers followed this trend.   The case color for the Apple II was called „Sand“.  IBM used a gray color called „Putty“.  Compaq used „Beach Gray“.  Digital Equipment Corporation computers were painted a brownish gray.  HP used a slightly blue-tinted gray.  And so it was, until the late 1990s.   In the late 1990s I was working for Compaq Computer Corporation.  The Product Marketing group had been studying consumer electronics trends, and realized that CE manufacturers were regularly changing case colors.  A plan was put into place.   I helped facilitate a Blind Study of 100 customers at our Corporate headquarters, pulled from all over the US.  Each participant was sent into a room, where there were two computers - one gray-colored, the other black.  The participants were given only the instructions, „work with the two machines, and tell us what the difference is between them“.   Both computers were completely identical, other than the case color.  Internals exactly the same, software exactly the same, benchmarked to show that they were complete clones, except for the case color.  Each system was completely reset to default after every participant used it.   The result - out of 100 participants, every single person came out of the room and said, „The Black Computer is faster.“   For the next product refresh, every Compaq computer was black.  Within a year, the entire industry followed suit, except for Apple Computer.  Apple continued with the „Sand“ color for its Macintosh line, and ventured into pastel colors as an option for its all-in-one, which was a total marketing failure.   20+ years later, we still see the results of the Compaq study.  The vast majority of computers (large-scale and home devices) are black, dark gray, or some combination.  The industry has also started following the CE trend of silver devices, but the bulk still fall into black/dark gray.

A girl with whom I went to high school went on to become a reporter for a local Washington, DC television station.   Last year she visited her brother in North Carolina.  When she arrived at his house, she saw that a Trump 2020 political sign had been placed in his yard.  Her brother is a staunch Democrat.  She thought it had been placed there out of spite, so she removed it.   It turned out that the sign was actually in her brother‘s neighbor‘s yard, just a few cm over from the (unmarked) property line.   The neighbor, instead of speaking to her, stepped out onto his porch and Shot her with a pellet rifle.

    I‘m going to guess that at least one TT poster on my „ignore“ list will jump all over this as the lastest Gotcha maneuver, if they haven‘t done so already.   Sadly, the wingnuts are quite predictable.

https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-berlin-has-promised-too-much-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/a-56424913    

...deleted my response, as I realized this poster has previously asked most of these questions and received answers.

  One of the fellow Americans in my local circle of acquaintances has been, and is, a rabid Trump supporter and self-professed GOP „cheerleader“.  He is especially fond of arguing with Germans who express dislike for Trump, telling them how great Trump is, how wonderful Trump has been for the US, and how Trump was „cheated“ out of a second term.   He recently admitted to me that he has never voted in any election.  

  I have a Niederlassungserlaubnis, issued in 2019.  My passport is due to expire next year.  Because of this, my NE has an expiration date, which is the same date that my passport expires.   I was explicitly told by my local ABH that next year I must bring my renewed passport to them so they can reissue the NE with the new passport number and data.

  And in RLP, there is no curfew at all.

In Rheinland-Palz, you must also report to your local Gesundheitsamt.  This is in addition to Federal requirements.

  Japanese Whisky is the best.   Just sayin.