JJ

I ordered an external disk drive off eBay from a Chinese company. It arrived today with no instructions or details in or on the box. The cable it came with is a mystery to me: one end is a mini-USB which connects to the drive. The other end splits into a Y -- two, yes, count 'em, two plugs that would go into the USB port on the computer.

I tried plugging in just one, and it runs fine. Haven't had the courage to plug both of them in.

What is this for? It reminds me of a nightmare where I had an extra thumb.

My 7-month old son is healthy, happy, eating and pooping up a storm. He's been crawling for about two weeks and he is STRONG! Changing a diaper is a struggle. He does everything he can to flip over, crawl away, pull himself up or to the edge of the table. Meanwhile, I'm struggling with two kicking legs and a diaper full of stinky. Advice, please?

I must have walked past it a thousand times, and now I can't remember what that store used to be. I keep thinking "Montgomery Ward" but they went out of business ages ago, didn't they?

I saw Lyle Lovett in concert several times from 1992 to 1998, all in the SF Bay Area. I saw Shawn Colvin and Lisa Loeb open for him at least once each. I also saw an unknown -- a county-inflected singer/songwriter whose lyrics were very funny and creative. Very likey, I saw him open for Lyle at the winery in Saratoga.

Who was he?

I've seen that the graphics on the PS3 and the Xbox360 are far superior to the Wii, but how does the Wii compare with the old Xbox?

I'd appreciate both your subjective opinions and any technical specifications that are illustrative.

Here are the few I remember:

Ross & Monica's father was played by Elliott Gould.

Rachael's mother was Marlo Thomas.

Phoebe's mother was Teri Garr.

Joey's mother was Brenda Vaccaro.

Chandler's father was Kathleen Turner.

Can you fill in the rest for me?

I was in Tokyo in 1999 and watched a Japanese television show every afternoon when I came back from my wanderings around town. (Best things: soaking in the big mineral tub at the bathing house, the udon, the parks and temples, amazing skyscrapers, friendly people.) I don't speak a word of Japanese and the show was not subtitled.

The show seemed to revolve around a company, with bosses and seretaries. All the secretaries wore identical light blue uniforms, which made me think at first they were nurses. The plot seemed to be that the bosses would get into all kinds of situations and the secretaries would get them out. There was one tall, very beautiful secretary who was very memorable.

My questions:

What is this show?

What is it about?

Was it popular?

Is it available in English or in any other form?

Let's come up with good matched pairs of films to rent for a good double-feature. Explain how the movies are related, and how you can discuss them with your friends after you've watched them.

Here's my contribution:

"A Room With a View" and "My Beautiful Laundrette," both from 1986, both with Daniel Day-Lewis. Compare and contrast the kissing scenes! A better question: what are English people saying about England in these two movies?

I saw a Y!A answer where the mom wanted to use the first name "Kai," which she said meant "keeper of keys." A responder stated that it meant "food" in the Maori language.

I recall an Indian girl named Afross in my French class in high school. The teacher called her "Affreux" or "Affreuse," which is French for terrible, ugly, awful. He thought it was funny.

How about "Taro" which is "first-born son" in Japanese, but in English is a root vegetable like a yam?

Any others?

Does it make a lot of sense to ship pudding and toilet paper halfway around the world? Might there be a better way to get these "extras" to the troops?

(1) Mexico and Spain are the same country;

(2) AIDS is caused by racism;

(3) Some oils are low in fat;

(4) Popcorn causes horrible digestion problems;

(5) Yahoo is giving away money!

Jeepers, people sure can get things wrong. What amazing things have you learned here?

I'd like to find something fun and not too hard. I sing baritone, but can sing most soprano women's parts in a lower octave.

I'd like a song that's fun, not too hard (I'm not a great soloist) and certainly not a ballad.

I do a pretty good job with Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman." It's funny when a guy sings it. I don't even have to change the key -- just drop down an octave.

Pheugoo's "Jimmy Mack's Sweet Escape" is pretty awesome. Know of any good mashup websites?

I would like to take a cruise with my partner next year, probably 10-14 days, either Alaska or a Panama Canal crossing. I'm impressed with the prices and selection available on vacationstogo.com -- we are hoping to do a 4.5 or 5-star ship.

My concern is that bill you get at the end of the trip. I know that each alcoholic drink will be there. Several drinks per day over nearly two weeks is going to hurt not just the liver, but the ol' wallet, too.

How much can I expect to be charged for these things:

Room service

Alcoholic beverages

Bottle of wine with dinner

Visit to the fitness center (even locker room, spa, sauna?)

Spa services (massage or facials)

Shore excursions

Watersports

Shows

Also, there are a few cruise lines, mostly in the very high-end range, which include alcohol in the price. Might this be worth it? I might be more comfortable paying ahead of time, and not worrying about being nickel & dimed to death on the trip.

Your opinion?

Sorry if I've mangled the name. It's all greek to me, haha.

We have very hard water and our regular salt-exchange softener just died. We we looking at replacing it with the same technology, but have seen these electromagnetic systems advertised.

Has anyone purchased one of these? Does it work, or is it "voodoo?" If you believe it works, how can you tell?

It's been years since I had an AOL account. I heard that they are "free" now. What does this mean? Does AOL still use the dedicated software, or is it web-based? I remember some pretty wild chat-rooms on there -- are they still there? How can you access this? Or is any of it worth the bother?

For a while, it seemed AOL was going to concquer the world. Time-Warner bought it up for a ridiculous price. Now it seems like a footnote in the history of the internet. Comments?

I'm pretty sure they're shooting for "cheeseburger." I'm picking up the mustard and pickle taste. What do you taste? I'm not sure I like them.

In the scene I saw played at a bar, a girl in a 50's-style prom dress is singing "Mr. Sandman" with a group of four boys in matching jackets. They keep competing for the microphones. They are outdoors, in front of a painted set that looks like a toy castle. In the audience, there are people dressed in funny costumes, and it looks like there is a fair or a picnic going on nearby.