as a rock

There's no relation, but I'd happily do anything the song describes

Also be wary if your boarding pass denotes the "B" starliner...

Something I discovered by accident, but wish to revisit soon - buying a stack of CDs at places like Goodwill. a dollar or so per disc and the randomish selection means I can try new artists at very low risk. And yes, they all get ripped for home play. Though to be fair, I stream Pandora out and about because I like the way I've themed my stations.

This mat sound weird, but one of the few things I personally dislike about Pandora is the lack of human banter. I don't want constant station IDs or "witty" sports coverage. But if I listen to a couple hours of Pandora I start to feel isolated. One thing I'd almost pay for is a way to hear ads, but local ads FROM OTHER CITIES. The few times I bother to stream specific radio stations directly, I love hearing local ads and personalities from time to time.

...a major weather event...

I *HATE* our local news because living far enough off the coast to avoid many hurricanes while being outside of tornado zones means a heavy rainstorm is a weather event for some of these chuckleheads. I don't know how many times a year they throw up the weather graphic or break into regular programming to update us on... rain...

I'm not saying these storms aren't sometimes dangerous. Some bring high winds or flash flooding (think yards and creeks, not rockslides or cars sliding away). But they'll hype up weather because that's where the eyeballs are. Apparently. So much so they advertise their weather apps and coverage pretty much year round with lots of dramatic soundbites from historical reporting.

I stopped watching local newscasts when it became apparent ratings were more important than relevant local information.

Actually, because we're paying maybe half what we were before for movie tickets, we are buying drinks or popcorn more regularly. We still bring our own sometimes but will often add on a concession item.

If you don't know why Battlefield Earth was made, and you aren't averse to reading about Scientology, you might enjoy reading up on L. Ron Hubbard and his quest for... sci-fi religious superiority?

If you're looking for an easy to use Linux desktop, have you considered Mint? It's ben two years since I used it, but with the Cinnamon DE it was very Windows-like. Easy enough to put some icons on the desktop.

If you were looking to do something more locked-down and kiosk-like, then I'm no help - have never researched that.

8=D

Um... Not sure if you didn't get the joke, or...

Same here! I also loved the occasional "BBS Parties" where the sysops would host get-togethers. Was so neat to meet the people behind the aliases and see how your favorite boards were run!

[Farnsworth] First one, and then the other. [/Farnsworth]

I'm against draconian DRM as much as the next free spirit, but that applies to purchased content (or format-shifted purchased media). Netflix is streaming, where no ownership is transferred. Therefore, the expectation of expiration checkins doesn't seem out of place or particularly onerous.

Beat me to it!