I was having problems with my system crashing under "load" (i.e. games) last year. I replaced the drivers, the video card and the power supply before I noticed that the CPU heart sink was stuffed with dust. One blast of canned air later and I haven't had a problem since. It had probably been two years since I installed that processor. So yes, there are times when it really does make a difference.

First off - the kid's ten. Teach him to cook. It's practical chemistry that applies to everyday life (and it's tasty). Don't bother with the abstract stuff, he's not ready for it. Second - if you don't know chemistry (and this goes for any subject) for goodness sake don't teach it to someone else! The "sub-standard education" that people who home school complain about is often the result of teachers working out of their area. How is taking the kid home and doing the same thing an improvement?

By this standard, about 60.4% of Canadians are real. The rest just think they're right.

A few of us slackers at our Undergrad Physics Society skipped class all the time to play the different version of Risk, among many other games.

I recommend any game by Avalon Hill or Steve Jackson Games.

Illuminati is a favorite.

Diplomacy is a blast! It's like Risk, but without the ramdomness of dice. This game is ALL about making/breaking alliances.

I used to really like a game Avalon Hill used to make called Titan. They don't make it anymore though and it's hard to find now.

Star Fleet Battlesis always a fun game if your up for reading binders upon binders of rules. I never bothered learning any other rules than for the Starfleet vessels though.

I think game development was spawned out of a void in six days by a supreme being. During those six days all gaming genres were created and have remained static since that time. I'm writing an article on it, I expect it to be linked to on Slashdot sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm also writing articles on how gaming is like Judeaism Voodo checkers and Ritz crackers, stay tuned.