My sister in law had a Dell Mini-9 that she received for free when my brother bought a high end laptop from them. It only had an atom processor and was loaded with Windows XP. It took 1/2 hour to boot and 10 minutes to load any web browser. In frustration they just gave it to me. I wiped it and loaded x-ubuntu on it. It boots now in 30 seconds and Firefox works great on it. That's all I really need for recreational use is a PC that can run a web browser, some office software (Libra office is running on all my PCs, Linux & Windows) but there are some clear deficiencies in Linux. It does not run Silverlight which means Netflix is off the table. The simple games; Solitaire, Freecell are available but *REALLY* clunky! I do *NOT* want to run some interpretive compatibility software like WINE to get these features. Linux should have these simple features in native mode. I keep it around because I like being in a non-windows playground, but it's just not all there yet.

Now your employing hyperbole. You are equating a blue image with a small chance of getting out with a physical assault. No one is touching you when the image is taken. Your property (Your clothes) are not being damaged. And the only person in this world who can permit the feeling of humiliation is YOU!

Mom's been dead for 4 years. Grandma for 33 years. My sister & brother likely would take an adult view. (I suspect the same would hold with Mom, Dad, and grandma, though Windows 95 would have been beyond their ken.) If someone told you a web address of a picture of a prurient nature of someone you know, would you go to that address? Would you say no, secretly go there and publicly say you didn't (and take umbrage at the very thought?) Just not bother to look, or see and just move on with your life? No, nudity doesn't bother me. Its the way you came into the world, Endured by family members until you're about 1 1/2 then only sanctioned by serious movies like Schindler's list. (Where all those depicted to be forced to march naked were pasty unattractive white folks in black & white so it would be OK for broadcast over the public airwaves.) The pictures that those things take aren't exactly HD color. A publicly released image of those machines would be no more meaningful and prurient than a Photoshopped picture of your loved one's head on someone else's body. (Unless that actually WAS a gun in his pocket and he wasn't just glad to see you.)

If some perv wants to go blind looking at a blue-man-group version of my naked body, fine! I never understood this. I guess the only way to accept this is if we see a skeletal structure that sees weapons ala Total Recall. Can't imagine doing this without a great deal of radiation though.....

I've dumped Dish primarily because I only wanted 2 cable channels. SyFi & Comedy Central. For the latter, All I wanted was South Park, and they publish the eps the day after on their own website. Syfy use to publish their good shows the day after too, then a month after, now only when the season is finished and they're cancelling the shows I watch for their wrestling and Reality Ghost shows drek. It seems that off-the-air networks have no problem publishing on HULU. I suppose it's because they don't really have to worry about distribution via cable because they own their own transmission towers. Anyway, I was interested in Blockbuster and Netflix online content, but I'd like to know what they have available *BEFORE* I sign the dotted line or set my eMail up for permanent spam by asking for a peek. They don't make any list available. That's a disservice to everyone. It's like telling someone there's a tasty apple in this box if you'll buy it before you see it. There are other web-sites that publish their list, but *REALLY* !!!! Netflix should make this available before submitting your name for harrassment. Entertainment in general is going down the tubes because greed is out-weighing art. Always seems to have been the case. Think it always will........

I consider 75 watt light bulbs to be the norm. The 60 watters (unless you have a lot of them) just doesn't throw the lumens. It drives me crazy that the CFL and LED bulbs shoot for a 60W. The lamp in my living room has one of those 100-200-300 bulbs in it, mostly because for the longest time, that was the only light bulb in that room.

Running my Dell Studio Hybrid connected to my 67" DLP TV via HDMI with 16TB of WD Raid-5, Router, printer, my Yamaha receiver pushing a set of Paradigm speakers all connected to my UPS. Consumption... 250 watts. The power usage of 3 light bulbs. Meh!

I thought it said Cooking..... (Damn, no beers yet today)

... let alone strapping myself to some huge liquid oxygen/hydrogen tank. I always said that there are 6 reasons why I don't like to fly and that's before the ones involving irrational fear. I stopped flying in 1995. I imagine there are a couple more reasons to tack on to it since then. Though technologically, I find airplanes and spacecraft endlessly fascinating, I just don't like relying on aerodynamics. Then again, I can only think of two things I'd really like to experience. Zero Gravity (for a short period of time) and the really great view of earth. Otherwise, if I want to be a tourist, I'd prefer something with a beach, ocean, and a book or fishing rod. There's not much of that in orbit or on the moon. (and though, they've made great strides, the cuisine wouldn't be very great, they probably wouldn't want you to imbibe in alcoholic beverages, and using the toilet in zero G is a pretty fussy affair.) When they develop a space elevator ala Arthur C Clark's "Fountains of Paradise" then I might consider it. Barring that, anti-gravity....