Employment Guy

We need to find a good chew toy for our adult Great Pyr. But he has no interest in anything that really isn t edible (nylabone, rope toys, antlers, etc.) And anything that is edible (pigs ears, ham bones, rawhides) he consumes in seconds. Any suggestions for something tasty that he can t go through instantly?

I work in a business incubator environment, so there is no IT support. My HP laptop loses its wifi connection frequently (sometimes I stay connected for hours, sometimes I lose it every few minutes). I have to disconnect and reconnect. Typically the connection shows as “limited” in my taskbar. Here are the two most puzzling things: none of my coworkers have this issue (they are all on Macs) nor does my smart phone. And, I NEVER lose a wifi connection anywhere but here at work. I have tried all the Windows diagnostics, I've reseated the modem, tried updating the driver, tried older drivers, etc.

I like to make gomae -- Japanese spinach salad. The first step is blanching the spinach. Then I squeeze out most of the water. I find doing that by hand really tedious and not very effective. Are there any kitchen tools I can use to squeeze out the water with demolishing the spinach? TIA!

On a weight loss diet, I understand why breakfast is important. But two questions. One, is it bad if I wait a few hours after waking up to eat breakfast? (My stomach doesn't wake up for a while.) And two, does it matter what breakfast consists of -- protein, carbs, fats, etc.?

We have several rose bushes (Wisconsin) which are healthy and thanks to the early spring uncovered and greening up. In the past, we have had problems with black spot, aphids and spider mites. We've treated these with chemical sprays which we don't really want in our yard due to pets. Is there a good natural preventive measure we can take now, before trouble starts?

From time to time I report abuse in Y!A when I see it. For example, the "work from home" spam in the career forums, plus recently a troll who keeps posting the same question over and over. I've noticed that reporting abusive messages (per Yahoo's guidelines) does no good -- they don't get removed. Which leads me to believe that whatever credibility score I have in Y!A probably isn't very good. Which leads me to wonder if reporting abuse only hurts my score, since Y!A clearly doesn't agree that the messages I report violate their guidelines (they absolutely do, but apparently Yahoo doesn't think so.) Is there any point in reporting abuse?

If you were to stipulate the existence of an omniscient deity, would that not imply predestiny, and therefore the lack of free will? I've had several very smart theology/philosophy scholars try to explain to me why these two things are unrelated, but I don't get it. If "God" can read the book of life for each and every one of us, now and every step ahead, doesn't that imply we can't change our futures, and therefore we lack free will?

I've read about it extensively but it just doesn't seem to click. Does this famous experiment have any philosophical (or better yet practical) meaning, or is it just a quirk of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle?

We have a white glass top -- big mistake. We've tried all the usual methods to keep it clean: CeramBryte, razor, elbow grease. My wife tried oven cleaner yesterday and it worked like a charm -- 30 minutes, a quick wipe up & it looked brand new. Which is exactly why I am concerned. I have to think there's a reason everyone doesn't use this method, since it works so much better than the other ways! Is this harmful to the surface?

Every few days, I have to detach the handset and work the kinks out by letting it hang loose and spin. It's crazy -- it's not like I sit at my desk turning circles or rotate my phone when I'm talking on it. How does it get so twisted?

Why would my caller ID report 011? That's not a real phone number.

I think this is my first violation ever and I have no idea which question (cause it won't show me) or why. How am I supposed to learn to be a better YA! contributor?

I had 3 bamboo plants in my office. Well watered (never allowed to dry), lots of indirect sunlight. They seemed to be flourishing. Then, one slowly died -- turned yellow from the bottom up, and was gone in a matter of weeks. A few weeks later another shoot in the same container died the same way. Then another one in a different container. The one left, which is big and looked so healthy, just starting turning yellow. Any ideas what's going wrong?

I don't like WMA, MP3 or AAC. I don't quite need lossless like FLAC. I love MonkeyAudio but its just a little too obscure to bet on as a permanent solution. Ogg Vorbis seems like the best, most widely-supported solution. But after looking at their website (vorbis.com), I'm not so sure -- some of the main pages are broken links, and their FAQ was last updated in 2003! Any thoughts?

Note: if you are firmly opposed to shock collars, please don't bother to answer this.

We have a newly adopted Great Pyr who won't stop barking. The neighbors are upset and have already called the police twice. She starts obedience training in two weeks but we need to try to address the problem sooner. A citronella collar failed miserably. We have other pets, so an ultrasonic collar is out of the question. That leaves a shock collar. My question is, she doesn't just bark... she whines incessantly. Will an anti-bark shock collar work for that as well? If not, is there a hybrid shock collar (for training AND anti-bark) than includes a remote that we can use when she whines too much?

Back in the day, I recorded a lot of albums to cassette to listen to in my car, etc. I have hundreds of these still, but no more use for them. I'd like to do something constructive, legal and "green" with these. Any suggestions?

I'm working a website that lacks any sort of CMS. At the top of the home page is a "news" area that is constantly updated. It would be nice to setup a simple blogging type interface that lets the client update the contents of this frame (and only this frame) any time she wants. Any ideas? (I'm familiar with Adobe Contribute, but it doesn't seem to support the idea of just managing this one particular frame.)

Cheers!

I have an old bag of weed killer in my garage which has started to rot away. The weed killer powder is starting to spill onto the floor. What is the best way to clean this up? And what is a safe, responsible thing to do with it?

I work for an organization that provides information to members on various topics. If we send a link to copyrighted web content (such as a page on the IBM web site) are we infringing on that content's copyright? I'm pretty certain we aren't -- if you can point me towards relevant legal precedents, etc. that would be great.

When entering an expressway or freeway, using the onramp, who has the right of way -- the traffic on the expressway, or the traffic entering? (In the US)