I'm surprised they didn't mention the technique for unsticking recalcitrant half-height RLL and MFM hard disk drives by slamming them gently, but firmly, down onto a smooth horizontal surface (like your desktop). They would occasionally stick when the heads became goo-ed to the platters due to breakdown (or solidification, I was never sure which) of the lubricating material. When all other hope was abandoned, and you knew the drive was headed for the graveyard, a good, solid (but gentle) whack would often get it spinning again. The idea was to keep the drive as parallel as humanly possible to the horizontal surface. It was one of the few hardware tricks I had to summon male assistance to handle--my hand was not large enough to get the necessary firm one-handed grasp on the drive. Boy, do I feel old. Probably because I am old.

I thought there were all sorts of legal precedents that defined the age at which a child understands the difference between right and wrong--and that the age was normally around six or seven. In this case it was up to the parent to control the child, and that means she shouldn't have been allowed to race her bike on the sidewalk. It's the parent who should be held accountable. The parent should have said, "We have to be careful of other people when we're riding a bike on the sidewalk. No racing."

OK, since you've clearly identified yourself, I'm going to write this with as much civility as I can muster. As I've already stated in this discussion, I'm a "home-business" subscriber. Frankly, I've had excellent support and follow-up from non-technical contacts, while technical support has been truly abysmal (while trying to opt-out of "Domain Helper"). Would you point us to either (a) written documentation or (b) phone information that would provide information on how to use the "business gateway" to configure DNS services of our own choosing. You'll note that I have not posted anonymously, which apparently causes me to run the risk of being modded down. You can follow the story of my last two or three months with Comcast by clicking on my username. Thank you.

If I had mod points, I'd mod up both replies out of gratitude. Two very do-able suggestions. I hadn't realized I could do anything with their business box, and apparently I didn't catch their tech support on one of their better days. (Was told by one guy that they didn't support Macs, while another swore that I had the Mac plugged into the phone box.) Now I know what questions to ask.

I signed up for something they call the "home business triple play" that provides business Internet and phone service with residential TV. The service is basically a hundred bucks a month plus an extra five for a toll-free number and some additional charges for HBO and a second TV hookup. We're still saving a lot over our previous Comcast TV and Internet plus Vonage phone.

The downside is that I've been trying since June to opt out of their Domain Helper, which mysteriously re-appeared along with the new business account. After hours on the phone over a protracted period of about six weeks, the bottom line seems to be that I can't opt out. This has infuriated me, and I would throw them over if I had an alternative. They can't or won't understand that all I want from them is reliable TV reception and a connection to the Internet. I don't need them to be my Internet daddy, and the only time I want to know they're there is when I have a problem or need to pay the bill. I suspect if they could get that through their thick, idiotic heads, they'd probably attract a few more business users.

Exactly! I was going to suggest nesting blocks because at that age they're working out size relationships. A xylophone in bright colors--a nice sturdy one, which he will bang on until his parents hide it, generating a completely satisfactory noise. Something sturdy he can load up with other toys and both push and pull around--like the last generation's Big Yellow Toddler Taxi. Something that allows him to sort shapes--a toddler's puzzle toy that requires him to match up blocks of specific shapes with holes or slots that they go into. A push bike with four low wheels. Cars, trucks, planes, and boats in wood with no sharp edges. Stuff from the kitchen so he can emulate his parents, which he will do with great comedic effect. A book or two wouldn't be a bad idea--the sturdy cloth or cardboard kind. And you are so right--blocks, bears, a tricycle, a pail and shovel (and some sand)--and life would be very sad indeed without that big red ball, and Mom or Dad to toss it around with. How terribly non-technical all these things are. How vitally important to a toddler's understanding of his world and the way it works.

I don't know of any online retailers where you can shop without getting a cookie or two to handle your shopping cart and sundries--what they like to call your "overall shopping experience." I was appalled when Overstock.com began following me--seemingly everywhere. They showed up at local and national news sites, a couple of humor sites--enough to make me feel as though I was being tailed in some kind of poorly done spy movie. And they always showed particular, specific items I'd been looking at. Adblock didn't seem to make a difference. I was ticked enough that when they sent me a "survey," I told them off. That resulted in two e-mails and a phone call to my husband, whose credit card I used in making the small purchase I did make. The gist of the communications was that they really wanted me to think this was "normal" and that "all websites" do it. Cleaning out my cookies helped with the immediate persecution complex, and installing and browsing with Ghostery (ghostery.com) in tandem with Adblock in my Firefox seems to have eliminated the problem for any other sites that are doing it. The solution, of course, is just not to shop at places that offend you and to tell them why you're taking your business elsewhere.

They can't get off the Metro at Smithsonian. They've been specifically warned (by some expert patriots from Maine) not to take the Orange Line or the Blue Line except in the safer areas of Northern Virginia. (I've read so many articles about this that I can't give you a cite--might have been Huffington Post...). The best they're going to be able to manage is the Red Line (authorized as safe) to either Metro Center or Farragut North. They're supposed to be safe on the Red line. They're to avoid the Green Line entirely. I can't remember what was said about the Yellow Line, but I think it's been marginalized. This is supposed to keep them safe, but it's gonna be a long old schlep down from Farragut North...

We managed to raise our own two boys before ADHD became such a fad. "Everybody" knew that kids developed at different rates, that little girls were more likely to settle down quickly than boys were, and that it would all even out by the time everybody left high school. There were all sorts of ancient platitudes that seemed to impart wisdom: "Boys will be boys" was certainly one. "Let 'em run ragged outdoors, and they'll settle down" was another one. We didn't hit our kids, but discipline was part of the whole thing, too, as in "Go sit in that chair until you're ready to apologize" for the smaller ones and liberal doses of jug (otherwise known as "being kept in after school") for the older ones. Teachers took quite a bit of pride in being able to handle their kids and to maintain an orderly, productive classroom.

I'm amazed by what I see in schools now, and I'm very troubled on behalf of kids who are being drugged when their only malady seems to be that they're rambunctious. It disturbs me that recess, that golden opportunity to run off a bit of energy, seems to be regarded as superfluous in many school systems. As with everything else, we'll be reaping the whirlwind in twenty years or so. I'm afraid the payoff on this one will be kids whose natural talents will be wasted because they haven't been allowed to be kids.

I don't think there is one, and it's something I've searched for. The other problem is that they've become a household name on the end-user side of things, and most buyers trust them, rightly or wrongly. It's rare to find a customer who refuses to use them. When you do find one, their story is usually pretty bloodcurdling.

I'd like to shuck them as well, but I don't see myself doing it for a long time. I set up a pretty good service (Propay) that enables me to take cards in person at shows and over the phone (and that doesn't cost me the $30-plus per month that "Paypal Virtual Terminal" soaks you for). But Propay wants hundreds for the api that would let me interface them to my shopping cart.

I'm laughing because years ago I had a friend who had an incredibly demanding life--raising a family, getting her master's degree, and teaching special education. They lived in Brooklyn, and she took refuge one afternoon in a local park to eat her lunch and prepare for her afternoon classes. A woman in hotpants, fishnet hose, and a pair of CFM pumps sat down on the bench next to her, took out her own lunch, and began to eat. At some point she looked at my friend's feet and said, "Honey, you're never gonna get anywhere wearing those ground-grippers."

There's a lot of truth in what you're saying about "kangaroo care" or skin-to-skin contact for newborns. It seems to be the norm just about everywhere but modern delivery rooms to place the newly arrived immediately in the mother's arms. And the average healthy newborn is a pretty hardy being, well able to cope (with help) with a lot of what's going on outside. I also know that some really stressed-out or very early preemies can't handle a lot of contact. It's too bad they can't somehow adapt the traditional, indigenous baby-carrying methods of the area to incorporate some of the additional protections offered by the backpack. As your other responder says, to handle "difficult hikes through difficult terrain...with all the bugs, plants, and pollen..."

There was a classic (but perhaps apocryphal) story running around a few months ago about officials at a hospice for the dying who decided it was inappropriate for the visiting chaplains (of various denominations, Christian and non-Christian) to refer to God when privately counseling their patients.

If it's a government-run institution that feels they can't sanction grace before meals, somebody could help the interested people gather privately and informally a few minutes beforehand to have their prayer before going in for their meal. Nobody's harmed, nobody's offended, no laws are violated. Of course that would require common sense and the ability to behave graciously and with civility and consideration. I'm betting it will never happen.