And people tell me that after my horrific Hamstrung experience with one of their pump & dump phones, I'm stupid for refusing to consider any electronics from them ever again...

Yeah, our trip to Cancun a few years ago, we got a red light on the way in through customs. They're surprisingly efficient at the search, probably because they don't want to piss off the tourists.

My stepdad has (or at least had) one of those style zappers. Gnats and other flying pests small enough to get through screens are often a real problem where he lives, so he'd set it up over a bowl of vinegar in the kitchen. After a few hours, the counter around it would have dozens, if not hundreds, of formerly flying pests.

OK, so I'm a dog owner, and I spoil the hell out of my dogs. So much so that I spend my lunch break at home, walking them, then wolf down food. I buy super-premium dog food (hint: they need less, so there's less mess and it lasts longer). I have shelves of my pantry dedicated to treats. There's more room for the dogs on the sofa than for me and my wife. And I'd never even think that having my dogs watch TV is a good idea. Besides, they're constantly entertained laying on the ottoman by the window, barking at anything and everything that passes the house...

So we turned to some experts: the people who design water parks rides, a physicist with three small children, and two 14-year-old twins who are self-described "water park enthusiasts."

So, a couple teens, a dad whose specialty is particle physics, and the actual people who design the slides. Glad someone has some actual experience...

Opus the Penguin is a critical part of the entire X-MP era. So, yes, the computations go faster.

A friend of mine was totally gray in high school. Never got carded because of it...

Yes, imagine when 20,000 people who are actively engaged and informed about what's going on in politics and the world have the temerity to vote and make their voices heard. 20,000 people who won't just vote a party line. 20,000 people who believe they can make a difference and are actually working to do so...

Probably make me dislike Star Trek as much as I'm beginning to dislike Doctor Who. Which is ironic, considering my favorite Tennant episodes were written by Moffat, but now that he's in control, it feels like every episode has to be more over-the-top than the one before it, especially in series 7.5.

What if one already finds Congress contemptible?

I really dropped the ball on that one. Sorry.

I've been running Debian since about 1999... and I've been using Openbox since about... 2003? 2004? Does that mean that I was running #! before it existed?

"Atomation 2: Quantum Boogaloo"?

Having *just* in the past few weeks gotten a Blu-Ray player, these are the movies I've gotten:

* Original Star Trek movie collection (daily deal on Amazon, and what spurred me)
* Next Gen Star Trek movie collection
* Galaxy Quest (to be inserted in the above rotation at the proper point)
* Ghostbusters (it was less than $10)
* Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, My Name is Bruce

I'm pretty sure that's all I have. I usually just use Netflix as well, but those are movies that I either enjoy watching over, will do a marathon of, or are great for putting on for background noise. We're planning to marathon the Star Trek this summer while pigging out on steamed crabs, which is easily a 8-10 hour activity for us.

Sandy sure rocked my world...