Wish I had mod points to give. Good advice. I do find various linux distros work with various machines I have. Ubuntu, Mint, and PC Linux OS are probably the best at usually working. But even those sometimes run into some issue with wireless or touch pads or something with some machines. None of which is hard to get working to an intermediate level linux user. Though it will drive a newbie nuts in short order. Unetbootin, available on Windows and Linux, lets you put any CD or DVD .iso file for live linux distros onto a memory stick and boot off it. This way you get to try out the stuff and make sure it likes all your hardware. Plus you get to run it a bit getting a taste of it. Nothing on your machine is altered and you pull the stick and boot right back into what you were doing. I used different live distro's this way for a few weeks when I started with linux. Time well spent.

I don't like it either, but it isn't news. This linked article is from 2008.

Is that worse than wondering where your food preparers hands have been since they were last washed? And though adjacent to the burger, they didn't come into contact with it. Plus there are food grade greases used in such devices that are safe around food preparation like this.

No shill I assure you. Here is how it started out with my Mom.

I got a second hand Galaxy Tab for half of new price from someone needing the money. I wasn't sure if I wanted a tablet or not, but figured I could use it a couple weeks and sell it for a small profit if I didn't like it. On the way home from picking it up my Mom called asking me to come by her house to climb up a ladder and do a small repair on the roof. I left the tablet on the kitchen table after I showed her what I had picked up. When I came back in she was using it already. Somehow got the idea I had gotten it for her. I typically buy her computers, but had no idea she even knew what a tablet was. And other than seeing commercials she didn't.

It was clear she really liked it. So I left it with her still thinking the new would wear off in a few days. I did show her a bit about how it worked that first couple days. Well that was back in the early summer, and she still uses it all the time. As I said, two of her friends have gotten tablets as well though neither are Samsung brands ( I am no shill for any particular tablet).

I also have an Aunt who separately got a tablet and it is her favorite computing device. And know of two older fellows with a similar story. These people are all in their 60's and 70's. So I don't quite get it. I wouldn't want one for my only device. A powerful laptop would be the least computer I would want if it were my only one device. But looks to me like somehow the combination of touch interaction and OS's built to do most stuff for you without your knowing much have passed a big hurdle in intimidation of non-techy people.

Myself on the other hand, and others with considerable computing experience at least initially feel uncomfortable with some of the automatic functions of tablet OS systems. We don't trust it is doing the right thing.

My mother was a little more capable with computers than you describe yours, but didn't like them or use them all that much. Yet, the story is just like yours. Once she got a Samsung Galaxy tablet, she uses it so much it is almost constantly with her. And she doesn't need my assistance other than what I showed her the first couple days she owned it. Two of her friends have also gotten them having seen hers. They too went from minimal computer use to being regular enthusiastic users of the tablets they own.

Actually, despite the eyesight and other issues, from what I have seen, older people, especially older women love tablets. Even some that type enough I wondered how they could prefer them. Not sure I get it, but I have seen that to be the case in several instances, and most of them had/have a desktop or laptop. So they aren't people new to computers. I think less dexterity is needed to poke the screen in your hands than moving a mouse, along with the OS being set up for touch screen interaction. Those who get comfortable dictating longer emails and notes do seem to need nothing else. Their other computers seem to sit idle. If the person in mind needs only a desktop device a chromebook might be the better choice. But I have also seen older folks once they have the portable tablet, make much more use of it all over the house when they didn't spend as much time actually computing at a desktop. So despite lots of things saying a tablet is under-powered and not best to interface with for all purposes, something about it seems to get along with older people better.

Yes, I agree. James Lovelock pretty much told NASA why there was no life there back in the 1960's. No need to look for it as it isn't there. Sound, simple principles behind him saying that. Funny, how this fictional idea that there was life on Mars, along with some wishful thinking (I am looking at you Percival Lowell) can get lodged in the minds of so many people. And lead to billions spent on that faulty idea.

Hey, I am all for space exploration, and bothering to go has lead to some good knowledge. But this look for life has gone from "is there life there?" (no), to "were there ever conditions on Mars that could support life?".

But with conditions on Venus, I suppose Mars is the only game in town until we can send something to one of the moons of Jupiter.

A number of simple apps available for tablets that let you transfer files over Wifi. Faster than bluetooth, about as simpler or simpler. Not quite as fast as a USB connection (especially USB 3.0), but not bad for such devices. A number of simple apps do the GPS thing without a network connection. Even Google maps does it for limited areas. Navfree USA does it, a number of variants use Open Street Maps and do it. This really is no gripe. Many tablets will work with a USB to HDMI adapter. I suppose the lack of real keyboard is a real gripe though some are available actually. In short, I see nothing in this list of 'wants' that isn't either available, or available in a different form that make his wants in specific forms, like full size USB meaningless. You should look at tablets not only as cloud devices, but wireless devices. The use of ports is just not the right idea. Bluetooth and WIFI wireless accessories is the way things are going.

Because even by age 5, in US culture, the child won't blink an eye at tanks and guns. He has seen hundreds already. Lots of simulated killing too. He, being a sheltered US child, has not seen porn. Therefore the trauma. Maybe porn should be introduced earlier in life when the child hasn't developed enough to do more than soak it all in as normal like is done for war-like behaviors and killing. Yes, I agree it is a messed up situation. No, I don't really think porn should be introduced earlier.

Actually it is a bit under one gig for your DNA.

Seems this comes up every decade or so. There are some advantages in niches. But in the end, the large volume craft, at relatively slow speeds, and relatively less useful when winds are up seem to doom it from becoming a highly useful aircraft.

I'm a librarian, and guns aren't allowed for a reason. Silencers are generally not allowed without undue expense. Libraries as you know have to be quiet. Non-silenced guns are simply unacceptable.

You might want to read a bit about fission reactors. A controlled reaction producing heat to be used. That is what it is. It isn't a pile of hot isotopes. Those have been used in the past. As often the case, reading the article might have helped. Or maybe reading about fission reactors on Wikipedia. Good luck.

Vudu is another good option. More current choices than Netflix. Seems in my area they use less compression or do it better than Amazon. They claim to get new movies the same day as DVD is released. Amazon isn't too far behind though. Either service seems better than Netflix on anything other than old TV shows. Vudu isn't a subscription service. You merely pay for what you watch as a rental. Though on some movies they offer a buy option.

This is the kind of thinking that might work. Obviously, buggy whips is an apt comparison. You do need either your own niche, and unless in a huge market you probably still can't make it work. But creative combinations of a new product or service, only part of which is the DVD is what will work. Pizza and DVD might work as would others. Basically you still are going to morph your business from DVD rental to something else. Either DVD plus something or something altogether different. You might recognize it when you see it. And until you do, you will possibly think,....hmmm I can't think of anything so it cannot be done.