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I usually try to stay out of these "wars", because hey never solve anything, and just get people's dander up.

I've been on both sides of the Apple wars. First as an Apple IIe user, then as a PC user, and now as a Mac user.

When my best friend got his first Mac (in 1994) he was a PITA for the first 6 months. Talk about being a snob. But he loved his Mac almost as much as he loved his girl friend. (probably more... he still uses macs, but gave the girl friend he heave ho after 3 years). His step dad had been using a Mac for about 10 years prior. (I think he bought one when they first came in 84.) His step dad is the stereotypical Mac fanatic in every way except political ideology. Stone cold conservative. Makes Rush look like a new dealer. He does printing and graphics and often makes signs for the GOP polticos running in the area. Great guy, but if you have any aversion to "compu snobs" then you best stay away.

I've owned an Atari 1200xl, Laser 128, Apple IIe, three dells of various configurations, a couple of store made machines, and now a HP Media Center and an Apple MacBook. My next purchase will be a Apple iMac 20 or 24 inch machine. Why? Because my parents own a Vista, and comparing my meager MacBook to their "all out Vista" machine, and my little 'book is just more fun to work with.

My best friend is now on his 4th or 5th Mac (he's able to upgrade every 18 months or so now because of his job) and he makes purchasing decisions for his office and he's "converted" most of the staff to at least have MacBooks as a portable computer. Not computer savvy? He trained at UC Davis computer department to get a couple of certifications. He's an IT guy at the finance department for the State of California.

And I love Bill Gates and MSFT. I love his story. A college dropout who became the richest man in the world because of some business agreements. Ruthless, power hungry, obnoxious, as well as creative, tenacious, and intelligent -- great traits to teach the entreprenurial youth of today.

In short -- I admire what Bill Gates and MSFT have accomplished. But I love using Apple products (proud owner of an iPod classic and iPod touch). And both companies have made me money.

Actually at Cache Creek they do have craps and roulette.

I haven’t paid much attention to this issue, but it seems to me that if California is going to go all-out with Casinos instead of just have them in isolated Indian Reservation areas, then we ought to have real casinos, with sports betting, all the games, not just blackjack, and let people other than Indians make all the money. Why the pretense?

The Indian Casino my family goes to on a regular basis (Thunder Valley in Lincoln, CA) has most table games including black jack, 3 card poker, pai gow, baccarat, etc. No sports better (yet), but give it time. And they have more slot machines than your average casino in Reno or Tahoe.

And it's increased the growth of the city of Lincoln, and the neighboring city of Roseville. Traffic's a problem now, but that's because the state and city haven't kept up in over 3 decades. Roseville is a shoppers paradise with just about every major big box store (and several medium sized box stores) located in a 2 mile radius.

don't know what your problem is but I have had a MacBook Pro for almost a year now and it has never spontaneously shut down. I have clients who have both MBPs and MBs and not one of them has reported a spontaneous shut down.

I've had a MacBook since Oct 2006. No problems. Although the fan does get a little loud when doing high performance things.

Fred: I was in Die Hard!

Huck: pssht... Die Hard 2.

/stolen from the Simpsons.

Also, a little squirt of WD-40 never hurts anything.

Isn't the rule of thumb that if something needs to move but doesn't, squirt it with WD-40. If something is moving but shouldn't, duct tape it. ?

As somebody who has been using mental health services for a number of years, I find these song titles to be pretty funny.

That being said, my mother or ex-wife would also likely complain if they saw it. There's a difference between living with a mental illness and living with SOMEONE who has a mental illness. (Note the "ex" in "ex-wife".)

The way I read the article, it sounds like users of the mental health service were the ones that put this together, and not the social workers themselves. I think that makes all the difference in the world.

It’s a nice dog.

That was the nicest thing I can think of too.

I purchased a HP XP Box last summer/fall. I enjoy it, but I should have waited a year and purchased the new iMac.

However, I did purchase a MacBook last fall, and love it to death. My first Mac! I use it mainly for writing and surfing, but I loved the way it just worked right out of the box.

Because of that purchase, my future PC purchases will probably be all Mac-based.

I always loved Apple as a company, but could never afford their products. Now I'm in a position where I can get the "good" stuff.

Did Karl Rove wait in line with the unwashed masses to get one?

People still take Dvorak seriously?

Years ago (geez, must be 12 to 15 years ago) Dvorak wrote a book of his predictions for the tech industry. (I can't find it on Amazon at the moment, and i don't recall the actual title.)

Anyway, I picked it up as a gift for a friend who was always a die hard Apple lover, but didn't want to miss out on the games for the PC and had just purchased his first 386.

A few years later I asked my friend about the book, and he said that Dvorak was 0 for 25 on his predictions so far.

It was about that time that I started reading Dvorak's column with a little more thought behind it. He does tend to be wrong quite often.

I've since given up on PC Magazine. If I'm jonesing for PC news I'll read Maximum PC.

Years ago I worked for a health, life, and disability insurance company that owned quite a bit of land. On one hill that the company owned sat a gun range that wasn't used all that much.

The insurance company decided that they needed to expand and so they thought the cheapest way of expanding was to kick the gun range out, and take over the building and property.

Turned out there was so much lead in at the range, they actually had to get people with hazmats suits out there to clean it up. Then the whole building had to be razed, the land treated, and then a new building could be erected.

It turned out to cost the insurance company about double what they estimated, and it would have been cheaper to go out and buy and build on a different parcel of land.

If I knew the Atheist had a good record over many years, I would vote for the atheist if a Christian judge had a history of bad decisions over the same timeframe.

Interesting point. If given that circumstance, I'd likely vote for any third person running, or as I've done many times before, write my own name in the ballot.

Scientology would probably be a no go for me, also.

Good point.

Religion (in some people, nay...perhaps most) serves as their set of values and what is right vs what is wrong.

I think we have a duty to know how an elected official will use the religious principles that they believe in to determine what is "right" vs "wrong."

Fortunately, for most religions these values are relatively similar. And I think the difference between various denominations is minimal when it comes to the really big issues.

There used to be a time when "common sense" told us what was right and wrong, but there's just too many idjits today that have messed that up.

Under the right circumstances I'd vote for any mainstream Americanized religion. I would really be hesitant voting for a self-described atheist.

How about a kid and a non-kid area?

I'm in favor of that for just about every type of public arena -- restaurants, theaters. Stores should have special hours where kids can't shop. (And whose brilliant idea was it to make the kid sized shopping carts in grocery stores? Just what I need is little Johnny ramming the back of my knees with a stupid little shopping cart.)

Don't get me wrong... I like kids... I just don't think I could eat a whole one.

So does that mean I’ll get better than 30FPS on Battlefield 2?

Can’t we have at least one thing in the country or world that isn’t politicized?

I thought Jane Pauley was on the news at night......

Pauley never anchored the evening news. She appeared on Dateline as a correspondent fom time to time.

Pauley always had a certain "gravitas" that Katie never had. She's probably still liberally biased, but it didn't come off quite as blatantly with Pauley as it did with others.

I was really disappointed in ratatouille. Seems like everyone else liked it. I thought it dragged.....on and on.....with the same old thing.
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Isn't that true with most Pixar films though. Don't get me wrong, most of them are wonderful movies. But talking toys? For 2 hours? It gets old. Talking fish? For 2 hours? That gets old. And talking cars got very old after 2 hours.

But I really enjoyed Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and surprisingly, I even enjoyed Cars.

I kind of expect a Pixar movie to take an interesting element and run it into the ground. It's what makes Pixar, Pixar.

I haven't seen Ratatouille, yet. I don't know if I will. I'm not particularly moved by the commercials for it. But given what some people are saying about it on this thread, I'm a bit more inclined to see it. Though your review is more or less what I was expecting from what I've seen in the commercials.

Maybe I'll see it after I see the other movies I want to see.