More likely the Darwin Awards. She's definitely not an heroine (nor a drug!) Frankly I hope the only people who die in Iraq are the imbeciles who voluntarily went there to be human shields. Unfortunately real innocent people are likely to die too. I wonder if the human shield people can be arrested and tried for something? Have they forfeited their various citizenships? JW

Dare I say France and US? (and yes, you can read that as U.S. or us) :)

I guess you don't really say what the system(s) is(are) behind this firewall, but why not one of the little linksys or d-link embedded firewalls?

I still meet some friends weekly online to play D2, but after 2+ years it is starting to get old. (still enjoyable though). Atually it's amazing that a game could hold my interest for over 2 years. Anyway, I've just started playing Neverwinter Nights. Alot more of a true roleplaying game than D2. I'm still just doing the solo adventure, but it looks to have some quite interesting possibilities with the online games. And the scenario editor looks to be truly intriguing, opening all sorts of possibilities. I'm looking for a good persistent world for it, I guess not unlike Everquest or Ultima Online. The new D&D rules seem pretty cool too (haven't actually played D&D in years). From the other post, I may have to check out Operation Flashpoint. Q. This space for rent.

Try Neverwinter Nights. I've been enjoying for a bit now, though I have yet to tackle the online realm of it. I'm particularly looking forward to using the provided tools to create some adventures of my own. I find I STILL play Diablo II more than anything else. Gosh, over 2 years now and it's still addicting. That must say something (about me or the game). ;) Q.

2 words: Lego Mindstorms. Ofcourse this means spending money, but it will engage him on a number of levels and he can really see what his programming does. The Mindstorms "language" is easy, and you just as easily use something like NQC which for all it's "not-quiteness" is a decent approximation of C. When he gets frustrated that there are no floats you can nuke the firmware and add LeJos and program in real Java. Physical feedback is a wonderful thing.

Does anyone know how it compares to the Archos Jukebox? Does the iPod support WMA or Ogg? Is either format really desirable?

Not that MS doesn't deserve all the vitriol flung its way... I enjoy reading Slashdot but it's definitely geared towards Linux and I'm a Windows programmer/user. Is there something like Slashdot that would be of slightly more interest to a Windows programmer? (I guess other than the CP lounge, which is rather close :) Q

Priests are more like psychologists, or just sounding boards than "Experts" on life's problems. Most psychiatrists don't have obsessive-compulsive disorders, or ADT, but that doesn't prevent them from being able to help folks with those afflictions. If you ask a good friend for advice with a personal matter, you're only going to get something from his limited experience. If you ask a priest, hopefully he can draw from his interactions with his entire parish to provide advice. Certainly for a young priest this may be difficult. Most relationship problems can be dealt with using common sense, but if your in the middle of the problem, it's sometimes difficult to use common sense. On another note the bouncing CP dude is cute but annoying. Jim