There are more than enough of these to handle the largest data center. Start with cthulhu, vaal, landru, mcp (think TRON). And don't deny it: you've named production servers after most if not all of these names, haven't you?

Why? The same reason that we have public storage services. We're afraid to get rid of anything that might someday be useful or don't have the time to decide.

the most common use for manual writing is filling in forms... where cursive is undesirable anyway

Wish I could have convinced my last escrow officer that was true! We were moving to a new area and my spouse couldn't make it to the closing on our new house. So she gave me POA for the closing papers. Guess what? My block-letter initials were fine because that's what I've always used, consistently. But they told me I had to use script for my spouse's signature and initials, even though my version would never match. By now, the only cursive I know well is embedded in my signature, and that's illegible. So the first several pages of paperwork was a struggle as I remembered. And it's those capital letters that are least used, too.

I stopped using script just as soon as my elementary school teachers stopped enforcing it; probably 6th grade.

I've got maybe 15 unread books given to me as presents before I need to dip into the library or a bookstore again for pleasure reading. But I do have a library card; do you?

Something old: Buy "Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games" on CD-ROM. Not for them to read (yet) but for you to read and get ideas for things to do with them.

Something new: Since you're Anonymous, I don't know where you are. But take them here. There is so much amazing hands-on stuff here. There may be similar places elsewhere, but this place is just outstanding.

Something personal: Find ways to bring in things Right Now, as they happen. What you show interest and excitement in will be worth 2x the others, or boost their value. On a suitable occasion (birthday, etc.) give them a small unopened geode. Give them a hammer and safety glasses and let them break it open (well, not the 2-year old yet). If someone sends you steaks kept frozen with dry ice, put the meat away. Instead, get a bowl of warm water, gloves, the hammer and glasses again, and make sci-fi effects. If you're ready to retire that old, dead VCR, then get out the screwdrivers and take it apart with them.

My grandfather-in-law's slide rule is considerably older and still multiplies. My Magnavox tube radio and my Dad's Kodak Medalist camera using 620 film (which is 120 film on a fatter spool) are probably about the same. Assuming I don't have it, a museum astrolabe is far older yet functional, as is my answer to today's poll (the screw).

... not coffee.

Just try to get a good cup of tea at a diner, or most any US establishment for that matter. A bag? In a fancy wooden display case? Would you like some more coffee (though a teabag is visible; max asks has reached 7)? "Would you like some more hot water?" BZZZT! I'm sorry, you didn't beat the reaper!

Deregulate them. Then they'll figure out these things for themselves and there'll be a lot more choices. Let me not have to pick the one at the front of the line, but the one I want with the features I want. I understand the protocol. The protocol is counter-productive.

If the city really thinks that it knows best, then let it run its own operation, but allow real competition. The city will be out of business in no time.

Himself. That job changes every holder at least as much as anything obvious on entry.

Wired and wireless. That covers pretty much everything.

One small step to infinity...