fishbone

I've got a laptop hooked up to the TV, which is hooked up to a simple JVC audio system. The laptop charger is inducing audible static. If I unhook it, absolutely none can be heard. The laptop is hooked up to the TV via a regular 3.5mm audio jack and the TV is hooked up to the JVC audio system via RCA cables. The laptop unfortunately only has one type of audio jack, which is the 3.5 mm one.

Any ideas what I could/should do to fix this issue?

I have a Sony Vaio vgn-nr120e that I am trying to restore to factory defaults. The restore completes successfully and the system restarts, but Windows gets stuck at the loading screen (Vista, just shows the green loading bar). I let it sit for 8 hours and got nowhere. I noticed the card reader light is lit, there is no card in the drive and I also made sure the BIOS boot sequence has the hard drive as the primary device. Any help?

Dishwasher no longer draws water in it. It sounds perfectly fine, nothing strange. I took the front panel off and disconnected the water line behind the electric valve. Upon turning the dishwasher on, no water came out. The electric valve should have opened and I should have seen water spraying out, right? I turned power off to the dishwasher, turned the water line off, took the valve off and sure enough as soon as I turned the water line back on, water came out. Therefore I think I eliminated the possibility of a hose being plugged or the water line not working.

Based on all this information, would you say that I correctly narrowed down the problem to faulty electronic water inlet valve? I tried breathing in it, no luck, it is shut.

Water SHOULD flow into the dishwasher right away upon turning it on, shouldn't it?

I need to know, preferably with a link to a reference that confirms your answer beyond doubt, what transmission model is used on a 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins turbodiese, 6-speed manual.

I've had a bag of frozen brine shrimp for about a year now and I've been feeding my neon tetras out of it. They're small fish so they don't eat a lot. As a result the brine shrimp has lasted me a long time and I've had the bag for about a year now. It's always been kept frozen and I just break tiny bits at feeding time, which I thaw beforehand.

Does this stuff ever go bad or should I be safe to feed it for another year or so?

I'm researching a laptop for under $800 or so for my wife's sisters. They primarily need it for productivity [e-mail, research papers, etc] but it would be nice to have a decent video card as well for possible occasional gaming [nothing TOO heavy].

Came across the dv5-1003nr which seems to fit the bill quite nicely. HD 3200 video card, AMD Turion x2 2GHz, 3GB DDR, 160GB HDD.

Does anyone own this laptop? How do you like it?

Can anyone point me in the direction where I can purchase the classic Clan Campbell Scottish tartan fabric?

I've searched Google and Yahoo results but all the stores were either based in the UK or their prices were quite spendy at over $40 per foot of fabric.

Any online store that carries Scottish tartan fabrics with the distinct clan patterns, namely Campbell and has reasonable prices is more than welcome.

Fabric only, I am not interested in pre-made clothing.

This big guy showed up in our backyard. As we approached it, it coiled up and made a rattling noise and hissed. We live out in Lincoln, Nebraska. Pretty sure rattlesnakes are not indigenous here. Is this guy venomous? See the links for pics.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9004/dscf9421mx...

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/207/dscf9424az8...

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/6025/dscf9420wi...

I am torn between declawing or not declawing my cat. She is mostly an indoor cat but spends some very limited time outside.

I don't think I need to point out the benefits of having a cat declawed but I still feel bad for having to do it to kitty.

How stressful is it for cats to not have their claws anymore? They value them and care for them by constantly scratching our furniture :)

Anyone deal with any sort of negative experiences? Depression, nerve damage from the surgery, etc?

I guess 'm looking for encouragement to just go ahead with the procedure and have my cat declawed because I am still on the fence about it.

I had to go for a second time to the vet to have my kitty dewormed. Not sure how she picked it up again, but sure enough she did.

The vet gave me a pill called Droncit 23. I am assuming Droncit is the brand name and it contains 23mg.

Is Droncit the same as Prazinquantel? Can I buy medication that contains prazinquantel over the counter? Would it be just as effective?

I ask because I'd hate to have to go to the vet again IF she gets tapeworm again, they charge me over 10 dollars a pill!

A stray kitty ventured on our deck not even a week ago and we have decided to adopt her. She is a female, under a year of age judging by her size, and obviously we will go to the vet to have her spade and get all the shots done.

Trouble is we already have a male cat. At first the male was very aggressive towards her but we didn't let him get too close. Now he is the opposite. He is very docile and friendly, but extremely curious. He is trying to walk up slowly and carefuly, to our new kitty to snif and meet her. However, our new kitty is VERY defensive. The closer our male cat gets the angrier she gets. By supervising both at all times and petting both of them especially the female we managed to get them calm and sit as close as as 2 feet to each other. But as soon as our male cat moves an inch, she gets defensive again.

Is there anything else we can do to get her to not be defensive and get along with our male cat? They use separate food trays and litter boxes.

My wife and I want to buy a west highland terrier, aka westie female puppy. When we look at ads they keep mentioning that they are registered with various societies. Can anyone tell us what the difference is between them? Are some more desirable than others? Any societies to avoid? We don't want to overpay but we don't want to get a problem puppy either.

My question is twofold. Firstly, where is the outside temperature sensor located on a 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 turbodiesel? This sensor tells you what the outside temperature is and displays it on your rearview mirror. Could you please be specific so I know exactly where to look? What does it look like?

Second part of my question is how much would a replacement sensor cost and where could I find one? I searched on the net but most results are for oxygen sensors and such, not what I need.

My sister is considering an Xterra and I told her to pretty much look at it as requiring premium for best performance and mileage, as with all VQ engines.

Isn't it true that on regular the VQ40DE retards the timing and doesn't run as good, also affecting mileage? Is regular safe to use on a regular basis?

I would like concrete links to research sites if possible at all. I am trying to find out if the United States really uses more artificial and unhealthy food additives and preservatives than Europe/European Union. Everybody seems to think so and I happen to disagree, thus I'm researching this topic.

I want to purchase a pond vacuum which requires about 40 PSI. I don't need an EXACT measurement, just something to go by. The garden hose is a standard type, half an inch diameter, about 50 feet long on a slight incline and I've measured the water flow to be about 10 to 12 gallons per minute.

I want to purchase a pond vaccuum which requires about 40 PSI. If I can measure the diameter of my garden hose [a pretty standard one] and the amount of gallons per minute, how do I figure out what my PSI is?

I'm worried. I got a red clawed crab 2 weeks ago. He has spent this time in my betta tank and he was OK. I would find him in different places every time I would look for him, I have seen him eating a couple of times too. Then I set up his brackishwater environment and transfered him in. The water temp is at a steady 78*F [25*C], gravity is right at 1.007. I transfered him in 2 days ago and he's been sitting in almost the same spot this entire time. I dropped a sinking food pellet right next to him and he doesn't display much interest. I thought he was going to be happy with his new home. I poked him, he's still alive and kicking.

Any idea why this is going on? I don't have a kit yet to test the water, but it should be OK. As I said, 2 days old, I have a Tetra Whisper pump with activated carbon filter, water is nice and clear.

Any advice and links to red clawed crab behavior would be more than welcome.

Also, do fiddler crabs live in the same environment? Could I get 2 females maybe?

I stopped by the pet store looking or a 5 and a half gallon tank for my betta. While I was there I also wanted to get a ghost shrimp to act as a scavenger. Instead, the salesman told me a little red claw crab will have a better chance of surviving. So I got one. So far the two are living happily together, the betta spends most of the time above and the crab, when not climbing on the artificial plants, will hang around on the bottom.

My questions are:

-is it true that red claw crab actually like a bit of salt in the aquarium? If yes, what would be the best compromise, as I do not want it to negatively affect the betta

-if I don't think he is getting enough food from scavenging, can I drop maybe a pea in there? What food pellets would you recommend?

-does he absolutely need something to climb onto and hang on the surface?

Here is a picture of my set-up.

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/4094/1006575sg9.j...

Thanks everyone!