It is confusing, but this usage of "drops" came first and it doesn't seem fair to complain about that confusion when people use it this way.

I was surprised to learn that 85% of Slashdot poll respondents don't consume any caffeine.

Somewhat recent (at least for several years) macs include recovery firmware which can boot into an environment one can configure a network connection with, and has the option of downloading the operating system from Apple and re-installing it.

Sounds like the watch needs a gesture for "go back to where I was in the app, before the watch auto-reset to the time". And I don't mean a touchscreen gesture, I mean something using the accelerometer. The downside is that's bound to look silly.

I appreciate the response, but I just don't think "we haven't had time to implement it yet" cuts it for important features which are working in the current UI. The obvious solution is to wait until there is feature parity, then start beta testing. So, while VortexCortex's response (http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4771749&cid=46207371) could have been nicer, I'd say it's accurate. A UI replacement just isn't ready for beta testing before it has feature parity with what it's replacing. And it's foolish to think otherwise. Routing any users to an unfinished beta, where plenty of feedback has already been given, shows a fundamental disrespect for the community. It should be taken down until it's at feature parity, then we can provide constructive feedback.

Oops, I wasn't thinking about frightened mode. As others have said, presumably the PRNG generating the same series causes patterns to work there.

What you're describing sounds consistent with the article to me. The ghost behaviors are complex, but not random. They are determined by the location of Pac-Man, the location of other ghosts, the number of dots eaten, and by timers. If you run the same pattern every time, those factors will generate the same behavior each time.

If you still remember the patterns, it might be interesting to run through them again and see if you can see why they work after reading this article.

Usually I let patches sit for several days after they are downloaded. Why?

- Once I install the patches, I know I am going to get nagged to reboot, I can either keep closing the popup, or drag it to the edge of the screen, but either way, I find it bothersome
- When I wind up rebooting anyway, I don't want to wait for the updates to install before I do.

So, I wind up waiting until I have nothing better to do than run the updates *and* want to shut down. I'm sure I can't be the only one who does this - seems like MS would have quicker update uptake if there was an option to:
      - automatically install updates
      - if they need a reboot, just have them use the next reboot you happen to do, don't nag.

Auto-update with auto-reboot isn't an option because I don't want whatever applications I happen to leave running overnight be at risk of getting closed by random reboots.