Put all of your files on a CD/DVD and mail it to them, with an explanation of what the files are. That way, the data's off-line until they need it and safe unless somebody breaks in who knows what to look for. And, if your friend's good at hiding things, it may still be safe. (As an example, put the disc in a DVD or Blu-ray case behind another one with a movie on it.)

I'm retired. Usually, when there's a work-related poll, there's no option that fits me because there's that built-in assumption that the responder has a job. This time, the last option fits me exactly. It just goes to show that Slashdot gets it right once in a while, if only by chance.

You DO know that they fly, don't you?

I have one, and only one thing to say in reply: WHOOSH!

Yes, but there's still one problem: if you bring back the passenger pigeon in some sort of wildlife preserve and they outgrow their food supply, how are you going to get the flock out of there?

I don't think coffee snobs would like the coffee you mention.

Personally, I lump coffee snob in with audiophules. The only difference is that instead of claiming to hear differences that don't show up on an oscilloscope, they're claiming to taste differences that food chemists can't detect.

Is Cafe Gevalia Espresso Roast good enough quality for you? It's the only blend I ever use. And, of course, "black and bitter" is just an old expression to describe coffee straight from the pot with nothing added.

Considering how much it would cost to develop such a machine for such a small niche market, this is probably the most cost-effective solution.

Personally, I prefer mine with cream and sugar because I find that for me it enhances the flavor. In fact, I add raw sugar to the half and half for my morning espresso before foaming it so that even the foam is sweetened. If you like yours "black and bitter," have at it, but don't expect me to join you.

I'm not even talking about international travel. If I go to a convention and need to search, I want to look for things near the convention hotel; when I house sit for a friend in LA (I live in Ventura County.) I want to search for things near his home. And, when I get home, I want my desktop still set to search for things near where I live. For me, changing my settings for every single computer I have simply because I've changed it for one is Doing The Wrong Thing.

For those who are wondering how scientists can tell the different, the Wikipedia article has a section on various Reservoir Effects, including how volcanoes can skew the dates if their effect isn't properly adjusted for.

(think what happens with a Skype call in your house behind a NAT)

I don't use Skype, but I do use other things, such as SSH to my desktop from my laptop when I'm on the road, that need to connect to a specific machine. I do that by giving my desktop a fixed IP on the LAN and forwarding the appropriate ports to it, while allowing other machines, such as my laptop when I need it at home, to use DHCP. As long as Skype uses a consistent set of ports, there's no reason I can see that this wouldn't work, and it's not that hard to set up, either.

You can test ipv6 functionality by going to test-ipv6.org.

Alas, the site is down and whois shows that the registration has expired. However, test-ipv6.com is up and running if you need it.

Google may not (yet) be doing evil, but more and more I find them Doing The Wrong Thing. As an example, I'm writing this on my desktop at home. If I go to Google Maps, my home address is my default location, which is what I want. It's also the default location on my laptop. However, if I'm traveling and change my laptop's default location, it's been changed on my desktop when I get home which is exactly what I don't want it to do. The right thing, of course, would be to store the default location on the computer, so that you can have several computers with different default locations, but I guess that's too obvious for Google.

TFS says, 'We found fish that had almost 70% of their biomass made from carbon that came from trees and leaves instead of aquatic food chain sources.' I haven't read the article itself, and probably wouldn't get too much out of it because I never studied the right parts of chemistry, etc. to understand all of the details, but if somebody knows how they were able to determine this and can put it in layman's terms, I'd appreciate it. I'm not disputing their results, but I would like to learn how they got there.

Years ago I used to run a precinct during elections. That precinct had about eight people who'd registered as being in the Peace and Freedom Party. You'd think that anybody who cared enough to do that would care enough to come out and vote, but for most primaries (the only time that your party affiliation mattered at the poll) not one of them came in, and none of the ever requested an absentee ballot. There were representatives of several other minor parties but again, almost none of them showed up on election day. If that's true in a closed primary, how likely is it that any of them will vote in an open one?