How many Slashdot readers would change places with Hurd at this time? How could any of us ever get to quit a job and walk away with $40M?

I prefer using a WaterPik "water flosser" (used to be called "oral irrigator"). It has a plug -- way higher geek factor than dental floss. http://www.waterpik.com/oral-health

As far as I know, all keyboards around the world can type ASCII characters. (Does "A" really mean "American" any more? It's the base character set for all things computer-ish.)

Passover seders usually have an abundance of food. But, of course, not bread, but matzo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matzo

Start off with the instructor doing a few short, hands-on presentation on how some thing works. Simple, well-known household things that one can take apart, observe, and understand. toaster, desklamp, computer mouse, speaker, ...

Then, ask the students to think of one thing they want to talk about. Let them bring the items into the classroom with lab time to take them apart, guided by the instructor, and other students. They can choose junk in their basement or garage, or buy something cheap from a second-hand store. Or even from the local recycling center. Need basic tools, multimeters (inexpensive from Harbor Freight -- good enough for this class), etc Provide some basic instructions on safety and tool usage.

They might even figure out how to fix something.

Then, for the rest of the couse, each student does their presentation. (They also "accidentally" learn some presentation skills.)

The best way to learn is to teach!

Years ago, I participated in a "How Things Work" seminar at MIT just like this. Great stuff!

"Radio Schlock" might better describe the current version of this retailer. Junky, overpriced electronics, staffed by clerks with mediocre knowledge.

"For old people, it is difficult to click button on mouse but do not move it." It took me a while to notice this when my mom uses her computer. I had been supporting her remotely using VNC, and couldn't figure out why her windows were resized to be small. When I visited her in person, I saw that she was trying to close a window, but when she click the mouse button, she also move the mouse over to a border, held the mouse down, and ended up reszing the window. Solution: - configure larger window decorations (scroll bars, close buttons.) - configure larger window borders.