Alternative: I wired the house with CAT 6 network drops in most rooms. If a guest needs Intenet access, I tell them that there is a patch cable in the desk in the guest bedroom. They don't get the wireless password.

Pretty much the same mix of clients (all Linux except an occaisional AIX or Solaris system for work) on our network unless my wife has to fire up her work laptop that runs Windoze so not too much worry about a "Typhoid Mary" guest.

Cheers,
Dave

Coffee got me through my undergraduate years. I worked nights (11:00 pm to 7:00 am), went to classes until early afternoon and then slept until time to get up for work. Probably drank 10 to 15 cups of coffee a day. The worst was the day I noticed my desk shaking and it was my own left arm twitching.

Still drink abot six cups a day of the "real stuff" (not decaf). Love the taste of coffee. I'll even drink decaf in the evening just so I can enjoy the taste. I got "the habit" long before college from my parents. Dad passed away at 90 but mom is still going at 97 (and still drinking coffee).

Cheers,
Dave

I don't always need a robust business solution but when I do, it means I just have to make sure the girls know how to ID a Secret Service agent and then only work for cash in advance.

Cheers,
Dave

I agree. When I was an undergrad I drank 10 to 15 cups of coffee a day. Of course I was working nights, going to school during the day and sleep was a luxury. Now I'm down to only five or six cups a day of the real thing and some decaf when I want coffee but not cafeine.

Cheers,
Dave

I heard lots of Packard built Merlins at the 2007 Gathering of Mustangs and Legends at Rickenbacker AFB outside of Columbus Ohio. The overflight of a couple of dozen Mustangs in a "51" formation was particularly nice. More recently, I recorded the overflight of 19 B-25s at the 70th reunion of the Doolitlle Tokyo Raiders at Wright-Patterson AFB. Turn up your speakers and enjoy the "noise." That many bombers in the air is just something you don't see or hear anymore.

Cheers,

Dave

Sort of works that way here in Colorado, USA. The law that established the lottery earmarked the proceeds for something called "Great Outdoors Colorado" (GOCO). GOCO uses the money for things like open space acquisition, building bike paths and trails, etc. I look at it that buying a lottery ticket here goes to a good cause that benefits me since I use facilities that were acquired and built with lottery money.

That being said, I still only buy a lottery ticket if the expected value of the payout (odds * jackpot) is greater than the price of the ticket. I may not mind paying my stupidity tax but I'd at least like to know that statistically I have a chance of coming out ahead.

Cheers,
Dave

Maybe we should take a vote on this.

Cheers,
Dave

Why stop at a USB stick? Use a USB powered external hard disk. I've been running Fedora Core 16 on the company's laptop that way for several months now. What's really nice is that the external hard disk has become my "portable computer." I just leave the work laptop at the office and boot my personal laptop with it when I'm working at home. You just need CPUs with the same width (64 bit or 32 bit) since FC16 (and I think recent Ubuntu) creates the X config on the fly. Since everything is on *my* hard disk, no worries if I get some workplace inappropriate e-mail or something.

Oh yeah, I get to run Linux this way and keep the OEM install of Windoze in case I have to do something corporate-ish that isn't supported on Linux.

Cheers,
Dave

I have an LG "Thrill". It works great as a phone and has lots of neat features (WiFi connectivity, WiFi hot spot, GPS, bluetooth, etc.). The only problem is that if I try to use the features, I need to have it plugged into a power source. Anything other than using it as a phone and the battery goes dead in a (very) few hours.

Cheers,
Dave

I was going to post, "It's not a bug. It's a feature" but replying to your post will do.

I ended up vacationing in Silverton Colorado in mid-September 2001. The B&B we stayed in had no TV and only one phone and it was at the foot of the stairs with guest room all on the second floor. Even better, Silverton had (and I think continues to have) absolutely no cell phone service. The town has even acted to PREVENT carriers from installing cell towers.

It's an absolutly fantastic place to really get away from it all and be almost impossible to reach short of someone sending a courrier. Great hiking in the summer and awesome skiing in the winter.

Cheers,
Dave