and Slashdot won't be quite the same anymore...
so long and thanks for all the nerdy [fish] tales.

I just saw that item in a recent catalog - decided I didn't really want yet another combo reader USB hard disk thingy and passed on it. Just as well.. Aldi have good deals from time to time on cheap tools, both hand and electric. They appear to be well made for the price (in China, of course). Guess they have to satisfy a tough German home market. I got a 5 inch angle grinder a year or so ago, it has been a good performer.

Be kind to folk from the US. Their dialect of English broke away from the mainstream a long time ago, and they have kept many forms and regional linguistic quirks from the time of their first settlement by English-speaking people. We in the south (AU/NZ) have kept closer to conventional English, despite colourful usage and NZ vowel shifts...

If you are an IT policy decider in an Australian Government agency, you have buckley's of getting any serious attention paid to a non-MS solution for a SOE. Pushing for 'open'ness such as seriously considering say 7-Zip or OpenOffice, even where it can be demonstrated convincingly that they are both user-friendly and cost-effective will have you labelled as not a team player or worse, plain eccentric. It can be very detrimental to your career prospects in the APS. (been there, done that in the past)
Do not underestimate MS' very unhealthy hold over governments and senior management in this country. I'd like to see a Senate inquiry into that!