An outlook or Thunderbird plugin would have done the job much better.

For a failed build, our upstream helpdesks usually recommend HDD, then MB, then PS. CPU and RAM are way down the list (strangely above bringing in a network verifier which almost always finds the problem if the HDD and MB didn't fix it and the deployment is network based). This observation is based on most of the big-time contracting services in Canada.

For most users it may be of limited utility, But I can see it being useful for technicians who may want to be able to connect customers laptops to mobile hotspots to download patches etc, as well as a host of other uses. I've thought of doing this (albeit with a Dlink DiR-655 and rocket stick, not some $300 purpose built device).

If most programs are spending 20% of their time on memory management, something is wrong.

Problem with that is to know which site is which, you'd pretty much have to either be into kiddie porn yourself or be in law enforcement and assigned to KP patrol.

The OLPC must be built substantially different from every laptop that I've worked on (Acer Aspire One, Almost every recent Dell, Thinkpad, HP, or Toshiba). Almost all of them have the LVDS connector on the motherboard and fed through the hinge, requiring disassembling the base to some degree to get the cable out, then about 6 screws to open the bezel, then several more to get the screen module out, then several more to get the frame off the screen. I suppose you could re-use the LVDS cable to avoid opening the base, but it's usually fragile.

If disks in the safe deposit box are fast enough to access, running to the store to buy a generic power supply is fast enough recovery.

BC produces so much Hydroelectric power we export most of it.

Makes me wonder if an electrolysis->fuel cell system would be a good way of doing this... You'd just have to clean out the electrolysis cell periodically and replace the energy lost to heat (hopefully similar to what the RO pumps were using).

This is based on the assumption that you're not ingesting any ions in the food you eat. That would pretty much require a diet of pure paper or complete fasting. Anything that was once alive and hasn't been completely purified (paper or pure gelatine) is going to have some sodium, potassium, and calcium.

Errr... 13 jurisdictions... I forgot about Nunavut.

Or, they could do like the article says and pre-calculate it all. It's made even easier by the fact that there's only 12 jurisdictions, all of which are processed by CRA, and no regional district or city income tax. Most people would just need to proof-read their return and sign it.

Apparently one of the advancements in OSX snow leopard is that SL apps keep track of whether they have any pending writes. If they don't, the OS can kill -9 them on shutdown, so only third-party apps have to be sigterm'd, which greatly speeds shutdown. (I haven't upgraded yet so I've not experienced the difference this makes).

When Linux pages out but doesn't need the memory at the moment, it keeps the contents, but clears the dirty bit after writing the page out. It only needs to read the data back in if it has given the space to another process (speeding up that more-active process).

Actually, the first things I think of are runaway printer drivers, Failed HDDs, Bloatware, and cases so thin that a parallel cable can tork a PCI riser out of it's socket.

I had a BBS run on a 2400bps modem at the same time as all the others in town had 9600 and disallowed connections below 2400. My board allowed any speed. The other sysops were trying to convince me to get a 9600 and forbid 1200 and below. My position was that everyone got 30 minutes anyways, and there weren't any files to transfer, so why would I care how many bits they get.

I also had people in town who thought I must have really good porn since the line was always busy and all there appeared to be was one instance each of BRE and TW2002, two grafitti walls, and local messaging. Truth was I just had a bunch of people on 300 and 1200 bps modems who wanted to play BRE and TW2002 and used all their turns every day.