Albert and Leo: thanks for the help. I figured it was pretty obvious we weren't in safe mode... since everything runs, we've played games on the compy, and a whole pile of drivers operate upon boot-up, but whatever, my brother doesn't seem to understand that. maybe that web article will help change his opinion. I sort-of figured that it would only be in safe-mode if I chose for it to be in safe mode, and that article certainly suggests that that would be the case. but noooooo... logic doesn't work for Sean... haha!

thanks again

Ed are you still looking for another job? There were several job postings in the career section of the saturday edition of the edmonton journal for a UNIX administrator and other computer administration jobs.

Happy Birthday Keri!
(sorry i missed your shindig on friday)

Thanks AL

And a big thank you to Paras and Andy.... Thank you for the gift... although Matt thinks it's funny that I can't seem to get the kazoo to work... he says it's my failure as a musician. Though he seems to like to rub it in that he can get it to work.

How did you know i wanted a new puzzle?

Happy Birthday Keri!

Further to that last post, and because I'm working on a library research assignment that involves finding strange studies, I found a randomized controlled trial about video games and laparoscopic surgery. Strangely enough, it was in The Journal of Endourology. I'd link to it, but I went to it through the UofA library proxy, and I doubt it would directly link for anyone else (besides, I'm not sure anyone would want to read the whole thing.) Here's the punchline:

Conclusion: Video game aptitude appears to predict the level of laparoscopic skill in the novice surgeon. In this study, practicing video games did not improve one's laparoscopic skill significantly, but a larger study with more practice time could prove games to be helpful.

-- Rosenberg et al. Can video games be used to predict or improve laparoscopic skills? Journal of endourology [0892-7790] yr:2005 vol:19 iss:3 pg:372-376

I was telling Andy about this already, but a study has found that laparoscopic ("keyhole") surgeons who play video games are over 30 percent better (ie. finished a standardized laparoscopic training exercise faster and with fewer errors) than those who did not play video games.

Hooray for studies that justify my wasted time!

Ah, good ol' aLp:

K9 is back!

And Happy Birthday, Keri.

Here Andy, tutorials galore.