10 years ago I bought a Powerbook G4 and ran it for 6 years without a single issue. Then I got burgled whilst on holiday, and it was no more. Once the insurance came through, I got a MacBook Pro (2006) and it's still my main workhorse today. No longer the fastest or bestest, but everything works.

While waiting for the insurance to pay up for the G4, a friend gave me an old T30 Thinkpad. I upped the RAM & HDD and installed Linux, then used it daily. That died in a house flood 2 years ago (burst water main, upstairs neighbour), again whilst I was on holiday.

This leads me to believe that the single largest cause of computer failure is going on holiday. Now, I take the fuckers with me.

1) Open the picture.

On 10.5 and later, select the image and hit the space key. Use arrow keys as required to navigate.

Like how the OS calculator doesn't have scientific functions until 10.5.

In 10.4, press Command+(1/2/3) to switch views. Command+2 is 'scientific', Command+3 is 'programmer'.

Or how to extract a still from a movie, you have to re-navigate to the directory every ... fuckin' ... time.

If your movie is full screen, hit Command+Shift+3 and it'll create a picture on your desktop. If your movie is windowed, hit Command+Shift+4 and use the cross-hairs to define the area to snapshot.

Or how you can't use the standard upload file interface on websites, but have to hope it's compatible with iPhoto or some other hack.

I really don't get this. Either use the 'browse' button like anyone else, or just drag and drop the file in question into the file upload control.

Or the lack of alt-shortcuts which makes it so that you can't call up a function from a menu unless it's been hot-keyed.

Turn on 'full keyboard access' in the System Prefs (Ctrl+F1).

+5 informative my arse. Perhaps your time and energy would be better spend learning to use your damn machine instead of ranting about non-existent problems.

Because /. isn't about 'breaking stories' or 'investigative journalism' or anything of the kind. /. is about discussing recent news stories from your mom's basement, and it normally takes a moment or two for that news to to filter down through the carpet tiles and ventilation ducts. The delay is intentional.

As a bonus, this delay gives you time to formulate your rage into a semi-coherent rant for / against the subject and post it here for the world to point fingers at. Alternatively, you could just troll like everyone else does. Or post a link to goatse or tubgirl. Or your lame blog.

Or you know, you could actually get involved with the discussion.

Your call...

WTF are you talking about?

https://www.ireg.tax.virginia.gov/VTOL/Login.seam

also:

https://secure.in.gov/apps/dor/ifile/2009/

They saw a chair try to hump a table and therefore said that the chair is a he and the table is a she.

In Italian, yes. In French, Catalan and Spanish both these items are feminine.

He must have been some real twisted SOB to come to the conclusion that a woman's vagina is a masculine noun!

Conversely, 'vagina' is only masculine in French. In Italian, Catalan and Spanish both these items are feminine.

Even though we lump them together under a common 'Romance' flag, the differences between the various constituent languages are enormous. It's these differences that retain my interest. I love the idea that there are whole chunks of words in French that are silent, but implied. Makes the language a bitch to learn though, unlike Spanish where it is spoken as read; where every letter is pronounced (and always with the same intonation).

For the record, I live in Barcelona with my French wife. While her Spanish (Castilian) is technically perfect, she often has problems making herself understood because she can't make the right sounds (the rolled double R in 'Tarragona', the J in 'cojones'). As a Scot, I have no problem with these, but trip up embarrassingly often on 'beaucoup' (beau cul)!

You are English skills are terrible.

Sarcasm? Irony? WTF is this?

Otherwise, I think the GP got his point across just fine...

• BBC
• Reuters
• Guardian
• Telegraph

In other words, 10.4 no longer gets security updates

Untrue. The last 'general' security update for 10.4 was on 10 Sept 2009. There have been subsequent security updates for Safari, iTunes, etc.

Note to self II: Fuck moderating, drink more Lagavulin...

Posting to undo fucked up moderation.

Note to self: Don't moderate whilst drinking Lagavulin.

On OSX you should take a moment to check out Camino. It's normally a couple of steps behind the latest Firefox release, but it's far more Mac-like with full support for the 'Services' menu, Keychain, speelchequer, etc. To automatically get the latest Camino nightlies that are somewhat closer to the Firefox releases, you may be interested in CaminoKnight.

You may miss a few common Firefox plugins, but at least Adblock is there...

I think you'll find Rule #42 is:

"DON'T PANIC"

The rule in question is, I believe, #38. Perhaps you should take a moment to review the rules that have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.

Take a flashlight.

What's the point in having a stick if you can't poke something with it?

In my experience, most dealer parts stores _will_ ask for a VIN for your vehicle if you ask them for a headlight; that way they can ensure you get the right part for your model year.

However, a VIN is not taken as proof of rightful ownership - in fact I can buy parts for anyone else's car without question. Why should computer parts be any different?

By the way, VIN number contains a redundancy ;)

OK, I was gonna mod you 'troll', but I decided it would be best to counter your facile PAEDOPHILE!!1ONE jab with a couple of points of interest to, you know, give a little bit of context:

1. I assume you're talking about Aisha here, right? You cannot in all seriousness judge people who lived 1400 years ago by today's societal mores. Times change, history doesn't.

2. Educate yourself on the Age Of Consent in various countries today. For example, the AOC in Spain and Japan is currently 13, 12 in Mexico, and puberty in Bolivia. Ironically, in Saudi Arabia (Mo's birthplace) there are motions to establish 14 as the minimum age for marriage (extra-marital sex is illegal).

While #2 above might be an affront to your white Christian Western sensibilities, it has absolutely nothing to do with paedophilia.