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I cracked up during 'Last Comic Standing' when one of the comics said, Money can't buy you happiness. It can buy you a WaveRunner. Ever tried to frown while you're riding a WaveRunner?

You mean OpenOffice.org (Open Office was already trademarked.) Opinion: Good stuff. It's free. Runs natively (Not Javaid="blue">) on most operating systems, and reads/writes Office docs (prior to Office 2007). Try it. It doesn't have as many features as Word, but most people don't use most of the features found in Word anyway.

If the Vista and XP thread piqued your interest in Linux, here is a good article for you. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2177657,00.asp As Brian and I agree, competition is a necessity for fair markets. I keep both on my PC. With the low cost of hard drives, it's simple to have one for each OS. Decide for yourself.

I've seen Chad's house. It is quite the opus. As you can see from his flashing, Chad is not a man afraid of hard work! When he speaks, his experience solidifies his words.

So true. The same is true of roofing. Buyers see new asphalt shingles and feel that all is good. Flashing, flashing, flashing!!!

I make lots of mistakes. Did I mess up hear? Ok, I'll stick up for ya next time!id="blue">

Sheer madness!!!! Good eye, Chad.

People mix these together all the time. I'm not sure there is an 'official' difference, but I usually hear experienced people use sheathing to refer to OSB, plywood, etc. and sheeting to refer to materials like felt and plastic. I don't really care since people usually say something like plywood sheathing or plastic sheeting anyway.

No it doesn't! Yours is more practical. Besides, who really knows what the heck's going on here? (Les probably nailed it.)id="maroon">

Check with the locals. Just for example's sake, there is a document (titled GARAGE FIRE LID AND WALL REQ) at http://www.sjgov.org/commdev/cgi-bin/cdyn.exe/cdyn.exe/building_handouts?grp=building&htm=handouts&sid=&typ=handouts on residential garage ceilings for Joaqin County CA that specifies when they require a fire lid. (Common truss for house/garage, no firewall to roof, 2nd story...)

Don't ya love finding stuff like that? I found something similar years ago. The owners said they, "put that there so they could run electric to an in-ground pool they were hopin' to get." Problem is they never got the pool but when it rained, water came in through the opening, creating an indoor pool. I just put it in my report, disclaim its purpose, and state possible problems.

Ellen's ideas are great (and I mean that). I remember when I was young and had that kind of energy.[:-weepn]

But it already exists! Linux is precisely that. Your question is really, "Wouldn't it be nice if Linux was the dominant OS in the world?" The real-world answer is that it apparently isn't nice enough. As a systems programmer at IBM, I worked with a very bright Russian man. He told me that, under communism, there is simply no choice of product. The government decides what car people drive, the electronics available, and so on. Lack of choice meant people had the same stuff and there was not a sense of rich or poor ("Oooh, you have a Mercedes and I have a Yugo.") Basically, everyone felt poor. In a market where there is choice, the free open-source product loses its edge. Why? Because, for money, there is always someone willing to provide just a bit more. id="maroon"> Your freedom allows you to do that. Freedom allows everyone to do that - or not. Pardon my rhetoric, but if you made your living writing software, would you contribute to open-source or would you write software people would buy? My personal choice was to move away from programming computers. I began programming novel hardware - e.g., The embedded systems found in wastewater monitoring instruments. There, I was free from the Microsofts and Suns and Gnus. id="maroon"> Well, the world is what it is. id="maroon"> Not at all. Just stating reality. id="maroon"> Then you didn't read the whole boring story. The link to the entire interview is provided in the article. There, Con tells the story of how he worked very hard to create a fair, responsive scheduler for Linux. His ideas were quashed by two other people. BUT later, those two people implemented what Con wanted - but they put their names on the result. Now, if you are working your ass off for free, do you really need jerks like that making you more miserable? Con thought not. id="maroon"> Yes, they all fall under the heading of PC. I have not seen the term limited to just Wintel systems. id="maroon"> Actually, ATMs are so important that they have there own not-so-little world. id="maroon">

I like that. id="maroon"> I have read that, but there are always rumors of what company X is planning. Asus would be a likely maker of such a machine. They were the first, I believe, to use Windows' SideShow to combine a sort of PDA with a laptop (imagine a PDA in the lid of your laptop). I would expect them to put GPS capability into it as well. If manufactured, will it produce a stampede? That takes a crystal ball (and great marketing). My guess is that it won't. id="maroon">

Now that's interesting [:-banghea Thanks Jim.

Is there a 2nd floor? Does the firewall extend to the roof?

In today's PC market, it's hard to imagine anything much more common than Windows. id="maroon"> Before we go any further, let me say I am not, Not, NOT a fan of Microsoft. My politics are very similar to yours. Peace and love, Bro! I agree with everything you write in your previous paragraph. I would love to see everyone dump Microsoft and buy Linux. But then, I remember the Serenity Prayer. id="maroon"> Well, it kinda did happen with hardware. Intel and Microsoft began the Wintel revolution back in the 80's. The world is supplying Vista drivers much more quickly than open-source folk are providing Linux drivers for new hardware. id="maroon"> Well, that's not strictly true. I have worked on (and written) real-time embedded operating systems that will not crash. Of course, they are tiny systems (relative to Windows) that are responsible for instruments that must not fail (e.g., medical dosing pumps). The politics in the Linux world are not completely selfless. Many egos polute Linux development. See, for example - http://linuxgeekboy.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/a-leading-linux-kernel-developer-quits-but-why/%20 id="maroon"> I agree.[:-thumbu] I wish this were a very different world. id="maroon">

Jeez, I wish that were true [:-spin] I feel dumb next to the likes of you and several of the regulars here. Thanks, though!!! Way kind.

Microsoft is terrific and terrible. Economically, it is advantageous to have a common system. It doesn't really matter whether the system is the best - beta was technically better than VHS, but Sony wouldn't allow porn on their proprietary format, so they lost the war to VHS (Sony learned its lesson and is allowing porn on Blu-ray). The grass is always greener. Linux is no panacea. It does crash. It can be a nightmare to fix because important files are strewn wherever the author of that file decided to put it. I like all forms of Unix - including Mac - but my primary OS is Microsoft because it is the OS of 95% of the people with whom I communicate. Linux/Apache makes for a great web server, but that's because it doesn't have to offer a UI to the common user. Stay tuned. Vista performance is going to get a large boost when SP1 comes out Q1 of 08. Additionally, PCs are constantly changing. The chipsets and buses supporting the latest processors are much improved. Vista's biggest fault may have been leap-frogging the existing technology of most users' PCs. The computer I'm building now will allow me to upgrade to DDR3 memory when its cost goes down. I will also be able to use the future (45nm) processors when they come out. CASE**$147 Antec Performance One P182 21.3" x 8.1" x 19.9" (H x W x D) PSU**$209 SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM ATX12V/EPS12V, 80Plus, RoHS, Dual-Fan GRAPHICS**$126 XFX GeForce 8600GT PVT84JUDD3 Video card MOTHERBOARD**$150 GIGABYTE Model GA-P35C-DS3R CPU Socket Type LGA 775 CPU Type Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium FSB 1333/1066MHz Chipsets North Bridge Intel P35 South Bridge Intel ICH9R MEMORY**$100***************************************** CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory PROCESSOR**$280 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor HDD**$80 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM DVD**$40 SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM OS**$180 Vista Ultimate TOTAL $1312

Heck with the fiberglass - how far is it from that wood?

It's a real scramble this year! I'll root for your Bulldogs and Huskies this year if you will root for my Auburn Tigers next year (this ain't our year.) Lately, my football attention is centered on Kevin Everett. My poor Bills are giving it their best. And as always, Go Saints!

Yes, yes, YES!!!id="maroon">

It took a second look before I saw the matchbook. That is really cool. Thanks for sharing it.

Yep, and don't forget gator and ...

Baluster is to balustrade as column is to columnade and arch is to archade...