Ironically, I just ordered my first Slackware DVD today. I have been running Red Hat and Debian variants for years. At work, our enterprise has had a strictly Windows only policy for years. Now, our management is fully committed to an enterprise-wide migration of Windows to Linux for our Oracle database servers (over 500 of them), and I am in charge of it.

The reason I ordered slackware is because it requires in-depth knowledge of Linux, something the other distros don't require as much. I figure this will help out with the deployment at work.

How about:

Thinkpad in 2013: Ubuntu 12.10

Easily the best laptop I have ever owned. I know Unity sucks but the this Thinkpad actually makes it usable.

Conference calls are extremely annoying - for all of the reasons you mentioned. But they beat the shit out of the alternative - an actual fucking meeting. At least you can put it on mute and get some real work done.

I got 2 of these, both from a Washington state area code. Of course the caller ID could be fake...

Perhaps California should consult with Virginia about how to contract and run a DMV system.

It ain't the coffee. It is the added sugar. Do you know much restaurants add to these drinks? The original tooth rotting standard, Coke, is pretty low in added sugar. You only get about 1/4 cup of it in a 12 oz can. Many of of these pre-sweetend coffees, teas, etc have 2X as much sugar per oz and pre-made cocktail mixers usually have 3 X as much. Your friend could easily be downing more than a cup of sugar per drink. A good way to get diabetes. I have it too, which why I know so much about this shit.

You mean sort of like this?

"Come on, you piece of shit" - most memorable line ever. 30 years later, I probably use it about 10 times a day on my computer at work.

Across the pond, we have alligator meat which is one of the healthiest meats around. If you are fortunate to live in Florida, you can find it everywhere. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it cots $20/pound. Oh, and I think you can get Unicorn meat from Ireland.

But perhaps they did. At the exact moment the Mayan clocks ran out, so did our power, I didn't come back on for several hours. Afterwards, everything was the same, or was it? Perhaps we are under *new* management?

Actually, a "2x4" is actually 1.5x3.5. All dimensioned lumbers are exactly 1/2 inch less than the advertised size, with radioused edges. These measurements are universal, though wood warping can affect them. I am not sure how dimensional lumber is done in Europe.

An easy way to get around the LA Times Paywall and similar ones is to just select Private Browsing. Then you can read all you want. Assuming there is something worth reading.

Linking the military with the IRS? What could possibly go wrong?

I too find the gmail interface utterly baffling. However, one of the nicest things is they provide full IMAP support. So you can read it from any client you want - and keep them all in sync. Besides the web interface, I also have gmail on Evolution and my iPhone.