1986 I was still in highschool. Our school brought in a few Casio (I think) PCs with the monochrome monitors.
We learned to program basic on them. It was great. Learned logic and helped with maths.
I remember we had one of these PCs connected to a TV and a tape player where we would read programs from. This is where we did the colour graphics.
I've loved working with computers and programming from that day on.

That was my introduction to computers. I only knew 3 people who had computers at that time.
I did not get to use computers again until I went to university in 1991 where we used Apollo then DEC 320(?) which had Mosaic.
In the university library they had Apple macintosh computers with Netscape Navigator. They were the easiest and best to use.

I started using Linux in the late 90s. It was the buzz back then and I needed a differentiator when going for IT positions. I did download a lot of distros at the time because I worked at a telco at the time, so had the speed. But most of my installs came from CDs with magazines or books. At one stage I even ordered CDs from both redhat and mandrake. I still have them as souvenirs.
Anyway, my timeline looks like this (gets fuzzy the more I got into Linux):
Redhat-> mandrake->Caldera-> suse-> lfs->slackware->debian->redhat. Stayed on redhat for quite a few years (with XFCE) then moved on to OSX. Later on I used Ubuntu but only sparingly. Haven't used Linux for a couple of years now!

I love spicy food wherever it comes from. Like someone else said, it accentuates the falvours of the main ingredients.
Anyway, at home we use the following:
1- Dried (powder or flakes) to add to some stew pots (after the main ingredients started cooking
2- Fresh Chilies are used if you want to add the spiceyness to the the base sause of the meal. Adds aroma as well, especially with garlic...
3- Pickled chilis as a condiement more than anything and added to "fresh meals" like some salads, sandwiches. Can also be eaten on their own (small bites) just like other pickles.
4- Hot sauces. Well, they are mainly used for marinades more than anything else.

These are geenralities, but they tend to be more the norm than otherwise.

My work pays me for not parking on site (street parking is about 5 minutes away) The sum is almost equal to what it cost me to catch a bus to work. So I have sold our second car and now I catch public transport. I change busses at the interchange, so the total time including a 10 minute walk to my bus transitway is around 45 minutes.
No traffic frustrations as there are dedicated bus lanes on both legs of the journey, and I have now gone back to my old hobby of reading!
It's actually a nice relaxing way to come to work. I miss being able to go home for lunch at time when I used to drive (I live around 15 minutes by car from work), but I actually like the public transport. No frustration or traffic jams in the afternoons.

I fall into this category, but I wouldn't call myself an adult when I was circumcised. I was somewhere between 11 and 13 years old. I am neither American, nor Muslim or Jew.
My dad is not circumcised, but for some reason, which I no longer remember I was circumcised in a hospital. I didn't feel any pain as a result. I was sore for a week afterwards. That's all I can remember from that time.

I am now a happily married man, and we haven't had any problems with stimulation, sensation or anything.
I don't know what I'd do if I have a son, but as it's not a tradition in our family, we'll talk it through. I think I'm in favour of it, but we'll know closer to the time.

I worked at HP quite a few years back. I loved the team I worked with for many years, but due to lost outsourcing opportunities and such, the team got split up, so I took the opportunity to move to another team and expand my experience. Ended up being a bad call on my part.
But for a couple of years, I built-up good experience and managed good projects, then they noticed and put me in a team where I was responsible for stuff I didn't want to do on the proviso that it was temporary. Temporary stretched for months for a role that was pretty stressful, and my manager was so unsupportive and clueless. I begged him for months to move me somewhere else, I even contacted HR and said I wanted to move teams. Nothing came out of it, so I told my boss that if he gives me any more projects (of the stressful type I didn't want to do) I will resign. He did and so I resigned the following day to his utter surprise because he knew I didn't have another job to go to. I was one of six people from a team of 20 who resigned within a space of two weeks.
I was not given an exit interview, but leaving that team was one of the best things I did.

Most of the proposition and the comments that follow come from US readers who's university eduction is exorbitently priced.
But they tend to live in such a cocoon of their own making that if it's state subsidised then it is a communist socialist tool and should be resisted at all costs. Look at what they did with their health care! Everyone in the rest of the western nations just shook their heads at the kind of language that came out in the debate.
It's the same kind of language or at least sentiment shown regarding higher ed here.

Apartheid, apartheid, apartheid, settlements, settlements, settlements.

interesting.
All throughout Arabia, Shiite Muslims kill Sunni Muslims, nobody cares.
Sunni Muslims kill Shiite Muslims, nobody cars.
But if an Israeli kills a Palestinian - Apartheid, apartheid, apartheid.

Border disputes are border disputes all across the world. But if one party of a border dispute is Israel, it's occupation, settlement, apartheid racist.

So, Mr Coward, help me understand what you're trying to say:
Are you saying that since Sunnis and Shia kill each other it is OK for Israeli Jews to kill Palestinians?
Or
Are you saying that we shouldn't care when Israeli Jews kill Palestinians?

By the way, border disputes are basically between two countries that recognise each other (generally) but have never formalised the drawing of their borders. Israeli settlements are built on land beyond the recognised borders, so it's apartheid, it's occupation.

I agree with you about the actual rate of taxation. I was only illustrating taxation and compulsory health cover still doesn't take over your whole income and leave you destitute.

Thanks for the correction.

Actually, I come from a country (Australia) where we have what you Americans call socialised medical care.
I am on the high pay bracket, so I pay a lot of tax, but that is only about 35%ish. My contribution to health is an additional 3.5% (plus I have private health insurance in case I want to go private which is on $900ish a year).
So, assuming I earn $100000 (easier to work number, but I don't earn anywhere near that)

I would pay $38000 tax, so my take home is $62000
I have a $220000 mortgage, with a loan repayment of $1600*12 so that leaves me with $36000 to spend on living expenses and travel, and savings etc.

So, Tax is my biggest expenditure (but not for health reasons)
Currently, mortgage and associated expenses of owning a house account for more than 40% of my income (I earn much less than $100000) while tax is only %30ish

The way my wife and I sorted things out is as follows (from our take home wages):
12% goes to church/charities
10% savings (for the un expected or big ticket items)
40% mortgage (we pay a bit more, but we're thinking of rebuilding)
5% transport (I cath a bus she drives our car)
10% bills (we set the money aside, even though some bills are either quarterly or yearly)
5% holidays (we're saving for long trips)
5% for pocket money (we each get an allowance to spend on stuff, like going out, or anything)
10% groceries
2% for gifts (we have lots of friends/family birthdays, weddings whatever) If we plan for it, it makes it easier to spend.
and the rest is just floating around. We don't do it by exact percentages, but we allocate exact amounts we split into dedicated bank accounts on a monthly basis.

I agree with Dan541. I regularly use these digital "encrypted" radios in NSW (not sure about other states), and these are used by all emergency services in the state (not just the police). Each group has its own "talk groups".
What I want to add to this conversation, is that the Pasadena police will most likely be using the Motorola radios sicne these are the most widely used digital radios. These kinds of digital radios also have a central control opcen. Basically, if a radio is stolen, it can be locked out, basically like a stolen mobile phone can be locked out using IMEI.

As another outsider, I don't think Americans are capable of changing their own system not for lack of a desire to do so, but because they seem to have no appreciation for viable, working alternatives.
Americans tend to distrust anything that wasn't invented there, hence all the attacks on European styles of government (and even attacks on candidates who speaks another language!)
take their health budget. They spend nearly double the percentrage of the GDP on health as that of the biggest European countries (UK, Germany, France) and yet, they still can't give universal health coverage to all their citizens!
Any new government styles, ideas that are better than what they currently have is more likely to resemble a "foreign" style and will be rejected outright.

I am still an outsider, so take what I just said with a healthy dose of salt.

I'm not sure it's the two-party system that's failing. It's more the division of power that is failing you.
Most Westminster-system governments are more-or-less two-party systems, but there are many 3rd and 4th parties that "keep the bastards honest" like we say in Australia.
A Westminster system of govenment means that the executive is accountable to the Parliament and is an elected member. Which means they can be replaced at any time and must answer questions in Parliament.
Judging your politics as an outsider, one can't tell who is governing, the President or the Congress. Besides, your parties hardly ever seem (again to an outsider) to vote as parties. Your members of congress seem to be proud of their records of voting against party lines. It's all very confusing.

In most of the developed world, healthcare is considered a basic human right, just like free education. All are available to everyone without discrimination, but you still have teh choice to go to private schools or private hospitals (at your own cost). All this is paid for by a fixed tax percentage for everyone.
I don't understand what problem Americans have with such a simple concept.
So, to see people saying they might be worse off because of health insurance (not health problems) is a sad sad thing to hear.

I like these two. I use yahoo mail as my main (private) email application. I would hate to see this absorbed into hotmail. I don't see them surviving on their own for much longer though. Bing and Google seem to be the two biggest at the moment, with google the biggest by far. Bing is the default on windows and google is a verb... yahoo is just not a search destination anymore. Back in the days, I used to use search.yahoo.com quite a lot. Simple design and quick enough. But, I guess the world will move on.