It was the same way in several Phoenix-area neighorhoods when I lived in that crappy city. I lived in two different houses, built in the 80s, and they had centralized mailboxes scattered throughout the subdivision; each location had 32 boxes IIRC.

The thing that really sucked about it was that the individual boxes were quite small, and could barely hold all the junk mail. This isn't a bad idea, as long they make the boxes much bigger so you don't miss something if you forget to check your mail one day to clear enough space because it's so full of junkmail that the carrier saves your mail for the next day.

Wow, that sounds like a total PITA. I had one briefly, for a few days, which I found outside (probably someone's escaped pet). It was really nice, and we kept it in a bathroom, where it made a bed in the trash can. We gave it to a ferret rescue person as soon as we could. Being locked in the bathroom (to keep it away from our cats), we never saw those other issues, but I just couldn't get over the smell.

Ferrets are really cute and friendly animals. However they smell absolutely horrible, which makes them difficult to live with as pets.

Top-of-the-line hardware, Aeron chairs, a big fancy office with insanely high rent in some prime location, ridiculously-high salaries (esp. for the executives), all-expenses-paid trips to "important" conferences, I could go on and on.

When you're playing with someone else's money instead of your own, there's no reason to be frugal. Might as well have a field day with it.

KDE is the answer to both of your questions.

2) While in stock form on most/all distros, KDE is set up with the same destructive window closing button issue as Windows and Mac, it's easy to reconfigure it to change the locations of all the window buttons. You can add some extra space between the close button and the minimize/restore buttons, or you can even move the close button to the other side of the window if you want. It's completely configurable. They probably keep it just like Windows/Mac to avoid confusing people.

6) The start menu (actually "K menu") in KDE is organized very well. When it opens, the first tab is "Favorites", and shows your most-used applications, plus a box where you can type in the name of an application to search for. Or you can switch to the "Applications" tab to get to a menu of all your installed applications. In there, all the applications are grouped according to their function: Development, Games, Graphics, Internet, Multimedia, Office, Settings, etc. This is completely unlike Windows where all the applications are a big mess, only grouped by the application's maker with no indication as to what it actually is or does. Then, inside one of these groups, each application has its own icon, plus is usually listed by its description, along with its name, such as "Image Editor", and then in smaller gray text, "GIMP Image Editor"; or "Media Player" and "Kaffeine" in smaller gray text; or "Spreadsheet" with "LibreOffice Calc" in smaller gray text. (note: some of this is probably distro-specific. I'm using Mint KDE for reference.) A new user doesn't have to know the name(s) of the spreadsheet programs on a Linux/KDE computer like this, he or she just needs to open up the K-menu, go to Applications, click on "Office", and then look for the programs that say "Spreadsheet", and LibreOffice Calc will be there (along with any others; that's all I have on mine at the moment). OR, they can click on the K-menu, and type "spreadsheet" into the search box, and all the spreadsheet programs will be listed there for selection. OR, for a shortcut, they can type Alt-F2 which brings up a litle search box at the top of the screen, type "spreadsheet" into that, and all the spreadsheet programs will be listed there. In my case, since I have only one (Calc), when I type Enter it automatically launches Calc. Windows doesn't do any of this stuff.

Probably the way to go would be to: 1) Have a system of strict formalities to have a copyright on a published work (with an expanded definition of publication including public performance or display), such as registration, notice, deposit, and a token fee (and also having lesser, automatic rights on unpublished works, which expire after a span of time that would be adequate to get a work finished and published); 2) Have terms be very short, like just a year from first publication anywhere, with renewal terms available if applied for in a timely fashion; 3) And with varying numbers of renewal terms available depending on the type of work in question. Computer software 'ages' quickly, so perhaps only 4 renewals for a 5 year maximum term. Movies tend to have a bit more life to them, so perhaps as many as 19 renewal terms for a total of 20 years maximum.

This way, works that the author doesn't feel are worth copyrighting enter the public domain immediately, works that the copyright holder doesn't feel are worth continuing to keep copyrighted enter the public domain sooner than they otherwise might, and ultimately the maximum cumulative term length is not too long either.

That's because in Latin it means "new" and Portuguese, like Spanish, is a Romance language, descended from Latin.

I think it's also important to note that Portuguese is much closer to Latin than Spanish is, so it's not surprising that "nova" (new) is common to both Latin and Portuguese and not Spanish. I wouldn't be surprised if "nova" is also used in Galician.

His "cause?" As one comedian put it, he's probably just trying to get out of his engagement to his girlfriend. "No honey, I really *do* want to get married, I just have to lay low until this whole 'stolen security secrets' thing blows over..."

Hmm, well, the NASCAR target market is stupid. The drivers and crew chiefs are often brilliant (and often retired physicians, physicists, etc.) but their target demographic is dumber than a box of rocks. :-(

Submit the problem to the what-if blog and Randall will have it figured out - probably more accurately - by next Tuesday.

Salt is actually pretty important nutritionally and for osmoregulation. Way too much/little is bad for you, but some salt is required. It's so important that part of our taste mechanism is dedicated to salt. Alton Brown summed it up nicely saying (okay, I'm paraphrasing) that while many things taste sweet (good eats), sour (bad eats) or bitter (poisonous eats), only one thing tastes salty - salt.

Just a note that, according to my doctor, and many articles I've read, excessive salt in the diet is NOT a problem for many/most people, but only those sensitive to it. Good explanations can be found:

• Myth or Fact: Salt Increases Blood Pressure (Hint: It's myth)
• A low salt diet for high blood pressure: Where’s the evidence?
• UVA Study Finds Salt May Not Contribute To High Blood Pressure

You mean, make sure it is actually installed correctly?