Dell will sell you Ubuntu machines preloaded (give them a call, ignore their website). I personally like System76 and ZaReason, but there are many others..
http://linuxpreloaded.com/

Basically..
  * it will remember what you configuration was used with that monitor
  * when you close your laptop it will go to the native resolution of the attached screen

I don't even know how new those are, but I've never personally used (or noticed) either of them before...

Everything else, I've been using succesfully since I started using laptops on both Windows and Linux.

Yup.. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/12/22-kids-slashed-in-china-elementary-school-knife-attack/

Many very bad injuries. But no fatalities.

As far as I know, Coreboot (open source bios) comes close, but it does seem you are correct that it is a processor problem.

http://www.coreboot.org/Benefits

Hmm...

I would use CiviCRM [1] and WordPress if there were no other constraints. I am of course assuming that your town wants to be able to do email outreach, has events, and likely could use case management to handle citizen requests. If not, then there is little point in using CiviCRM or anything besides a plain CMS.

I personally would prefer seeing town meeting summaries as blog posts then PDFs (which is what most towns seem to do currently).

Although if you really have NO budget, then I guess WordPress.com hosted or Google Sites.

[1] http://civicrm.org/

Take a look at this System 76 laptop:
https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/lemu4

With comparable specs it comes to $1008, upgraded from base model:
3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor ( 2.40GHz 6MB L3 Cache - 4 Cores plus Hyperthreading )
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 4GB
256 GB Crucial M4 Series SATA III 6 Gb/s Solid State Disk Drive

As for differences:
Dell is 13.3 in, System76 is 14 in
System 76 is 2.5 pounds heavier (4.5 pounds total)

Am I missing something else?

I disagree :)

In fact, it's right in the definition: to dissent in opinion (from another person) or dispute (about an idea, fact, etc.)
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disagree

Now.. that doesn't make their positions any less wrong.

If you are looking to donate to the FSF, you can do so through dreamhost until december and they will donate 4x the donation.

Previous post about it: http://bryanquigley.com/converting/dreamhost-customer-free-software-foundation-supporter

What free software project is using a license that doesn't actually match with it's mission - or hinders free software in other ways? In other words, if you could *magically* switch the license of one project - which would you choose and why?

Examples: Move Mesa to GPLv3, Move Linux from GPLv2 to v3, Make andriod GPLv3, GCC - from GPLv3 to Apache.

Did the local newspaper actually get a copy of the hard drive?
"Repeated requests by Local 6 beginning in 2009 for a copy of the hard drive that contained the Internet histories were denied by the state attorney's office, which claimed -- correctly, it turned out -- it did not have the data in its possession."

This kind of request should be denied outright, not because they don't have it.

Actually... your memory usage will likely be better under the 32 bit version. 64 bit will use more memory usually somewhere in the 1.5x to 2x range. I also don't think one process can access more than 4 GB of ram on 32 bit.

I do still agree that the reasons they presented aren't very good. It doen't seem like there was any real discussion about it... All new machines are 64 bit capable and I hope installed 64 bit by default now.

I was about to go on a rant about how they wouldn't even be called meat eaters in India. But it's right there in the summary. Non-vegetarians.
Meat is usually called non-veg in India or at least the small parts of it that I have lived in.

> xeroxing the device

I'm sorry you have violated Xerox's Corporation trademark on the use of the protected phrase "xerox". According to Xerox corporation "you cannot 'xerox' a document, but you can copy it on a Xerox Brand copying machine".

I think Trademarks are mostly ok how they are, as opposed to the insanity's that are copyright and patents.

Estimating from this chart*: about 40 million iPhones sold each year (it actually was increasing, so this is an underestimate), would bring in an additional 140 million dollars for samsung per year. And if you are Samsung, you know that Apple has got to be considering moving suppliers - but they have no current options! I would charge at least $25 more, which would make up the 1 billion dollar settlement.

*http://www.asymco.com/2012/02/16/ios-devices-in-2011-vs-macs-sold-it-in-28-years/