Mama Gretch

It sounds like a machine, kind of a high pitched rhythmic noise. I've heard it on different broadcasts, last year in particular, but today via NFL Red Zone watching the Jacksonville/Carolina game. Weird. Any ideas?

I recently bought an item from Acer Computers online and was charged more than 10% sales tax! I understand CA has a new online sales tax, but from what I read, that's for CA residents buying something from their state, not someone from out of state. 10% tax is way too much anyway! I can't find any definite answer to what tax I should be charged. I believe I should be charged the tax from where I live (4.3%) at the most. All of my questions to Acer have been answered with complete gibberish by their overseas tech support team. Can anyone tell me what the truth is about what tax I should have been charged? Thanks!

My husband's son is about to be married and this will be the first time I'll be in the same room as his ex-wife. She is not happy about our presence at the wedding, but my husband is entitled to go and we're certainly not going to be obtrusive. I expect that at some point like the receiving line, I'll have to meet her and say a little something. Any suggestions as to how to say something that will be gracious and polite? "Please don't hit me," wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

The control pad on my son's DS isn't working well (worn out, I'm sure!) Is there such a thing as an external control pad you could buy and plug in in order to not have to buy him a new DS (or a Wii, god forbid!)

Headline on Yahoo! today: "Jimmy Kimmel undergoes emergency appendectomy" Whenever someone has to have their appendix removed, isn't always an emergency? Would someone ever have an elective appendectomy? I've had my appendix out too, and yes, it was an emergency. So why do we have to always describe this operation like that?

There are two songs that make me speed when they come on my car radio: "LA Woman" by The Doors, and "Running Down a Dream" by Tom Petty. I feel that if I get a ticket if I'm caught speeding when those songs are on, I should be able to get the ticket excused - there's nothing I can do except put the pedal to the metal! There's even a recent story about a song that makes people speed: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=...

So what song makes you go faster when you play it in the car and should excuse you from getting a ticket if a cop stops you?

I have a very nice pot with five tulips that recently bloomed. The flowers are about gone now. What is the best way and time to transfer the bulbs into the ground for blooming next spring? Can I plant them now or should I wait until fall? What do I do with bulbs until they're ready to plant? Do I take off the stems from the bulbs?

once again, they are back-peddling and flip-flopping like a beached fish!

"Just weeks after the Feb. 13 six-nation pact with North Korea, new U.S. statements suggest that Washington might have overstated a purported secret North Korean second-track nuclear program. The result was that it derailed what could have been a peaceful resolution to the North Korean issue more than four years ago."

On Iran: "..U.S. intelligence helped reveal Iran's secret nuclear program in 2002, none of the information provided the U.N. nuclear watchdog by American spy agencies since then had led to meaningful leads. Still unproven is whether Tehran is using the cover of a nuclear power plant program to try to make atomic weapons. "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070301/ap_on_re_as/nu...

Are you willing to risk more American lives on the basis of what proven liars in this Admistration say is true? How can you still justify the horrendous mistake the U.S. made going into Iraq?

taken a big dump on the lap of The Decider? I'd particularly like to hear from Brits out there, what's your take on the big news today?

I was so surprised to hear her - she is great! Have you heard any of her stuff?

http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Ive-Got-My-Pocket...

I'm going to France and have a travel hair dryer with a switch that goes from 120 volts (for American electrical systems) to 250 volts. I understand the voltage in France is 220 volts. With the right plug adapter, will this hair dryer work? I don't want to electrocute myself, nor burn out the hair dryer, nor be left with wet hair!

I live near a school for the blind and often see people with canes and sunglasses going about their business in the neighborhood. What I don't understand is why some of them would wear eye shades, the kind that you might wear to bed (or on a flight) to completely darken the room. I know most blind people have some vision, some perception of light, so why would they want to diminish that?

I've been hearing stories of how Iraqis are enjoying freedom and democracy these days. Did you hear about the shepherds who were killed for not putting diapers on their goats because the local imams decreed that the sight of goats' bottoms were too tempting the men? Did you hear about the grocer who was killed, along with his family, for displaying vegetables in a "suggestive" manner? Do you hear about the women who are arrested on trumped up charges including witchcraft and murder, are taken to the local jails, where they are gang raped and beaten until they confess to any crime, which is actually better than being released and murdered by their own families for having maybe been dishonored, whether or not it is true.

Do you believe US troops are really there to "defend our freedom?" Are their lives being lost so these atrocities can take place? These maniacs are allowed to run rampant thanks to the US liberation. I don't consider what WE'VE done to Iraq to be an improvement!

He's turning 11 next month and already has a GameBoy, but is begging me for a DS. He definitely wants a hand-held system. Is there anything out there (or coming out soon) that I should look at instead? If DS is good, what accessories should I get for it - it has a wireless component, right?

I've got a new digital camera (6 megapixel photos) and I'd like to be able to touch up photos effectively: remove red eye, blemishes, maybe do some cool effects. I'm not a professional but my camera's software doesn't do the job for me, so I need a third-party program like Photoshop, without Photoshop's hefty price tag! What other software programs should I be looking at?