...that the only code I write now, is for myself on my own personal projects. I have more interesting ways to spend my life than writing code for someone else.

I have to agree with some of the other comments I see sprinkled here and there - it has become much more of a PITA to post here, and there are fewer and fewer people posting. There's enough happening to keep me somewhat interested, though.

I have an Wacom Intuos 5 tablet and so far have had no real success getting it to play with the Gimp. Curious if you have fared any better?

NewEgg still sells Windows 7 laptops. Go into the laptops/notebooks section and enter Windows 7 as a keyword. Some of the units that come back are refurbs, but some are brand new.

Thanks. I still am here, and I still read most of your frequent posts (though sometimes I don't quite understand what you post). I have been meaning to ask you: how in the world do you find the stuff you post (in particular the links)? Sometimes you post things that really startle me and I can't figure out if you're on some mailing list or if you just know where to find stuff...

Still baking?

I don't have the time anymore because of the work I do. I have reached a point, though, where I need to consider doing something else (or for someone else) so I have my time with my family again.

I have an account on LJ, but the interface is very stark and I am not sure how often I will use it. I think I understand why you're hoping it's temporary.

Not everyone left. I don't post often but I frequently read.

Oddly enough, Multiply's social stuff is about to go away.I have no clue where everyone plans to go as I was never really a serious part of the community. I imagine they'll scatter to the winds. I am curious to see if anyone returns.

It was in that same time period that my manager fetched me when she launched MS Excel one morning. The tip of the day was "Don't run with scissors." It really was in MS Office back then; I had heard about it and thought it was just a joke circulating about but it was really there.

If I didn't have to use Windows at work, I wouldn't.

And, the games are slowly coming more and more. It's a matter of time. The only real decision is choosing a distro - Ubuntu's probably the best choice for a new convert. I'm in deep with Red Hat but I do load up Ubuntu in a VM.

Ah, and I thought random reboots were something special about *my* specific phone. It makes me feel a little better, but not really.

I had this problem with a heatsink fan a while back.

Though I ultimately had to replace said fan, I found a solution that worked at least for a while. I disassembled the fan and took a green kitchen scrubber pad to the shaft of the fan, to remove stuff that had essentially cooked onto it - dust particles, hair and whatever else got into the case. You'll be able to feel that stuff on there even if you cannot see it. Steel wool is not good as it can scratch the shaft which will make the problem worse. Once I had it smooth and clean, I took just a small amount of axle grease and applied it to the shaft with a toothpick. I was careful to make sure I wasn't heavy-handed with the stuff but I made sure there was enough to coat the shaft and that it still turned easily. Then I reassembled the fan and all was well for a while.

This did not fix the problem permanently. Eventually the fan got loud again and I redid the procedure several times until I replaced it outright, but it did solve the immediate issue.

Hope that helps.

WE don't demonstrate a lack of common sense, bureaucrats do

I agree, but only to a point. By we I mean more than just governmental types. We've got zero-tolerance policies that are rigidly enforced and opportunistic people that go looking for the smallest of reasons to stir the pot (and look for the support of bureaucracy to justify their motives which many times are based only on feelings rather than a sense of doing the right things - the story that prompted the original JE being a case in point). We have lawsuits for every conceivable situation where often it's a case of people being stupid and are just unwilling to take responsibility (sorry, you should not get a dime from me or my insurance company because you got drunk and did a faceplant on the sidewalk in front of my house while walking home). We have a society where the entertainers are the most revered (I hope I never hear "news" about Paris Hilton ever again) and the real important people are often either ignored or villainized. The list goes on.

Your point is well-made, though. Bureaucracies are a wonderful breeding ground for the mindless. My homeowner's association is a fine example of this. I suspect it drives the market for red tape in our county.