I chose Slackware because I've used it for most of about 15 years. Once its set up, I don't usually have to fool with it. (That said, once I plugged in my x10 module and started switching the solenoid on and off, I'd not be able to get into the system. I believe it was still operational, but there is apparently some memory leak in the usb system or the x10 application that makes it so that I can't connect. As a result, I've set the Raspberry Pi to reboot every 3 days-ish. I'll let it run like this until I have time to replace the x10 part of the system with a PiFace module I've bought and not had time to dive into. Also, I've had 900+ days of uptime on (a different box running) Slackware before, so I'm confident the problem is in one of the programs in use.) It turns out that I got started too late in the year to have much success, ...and when I did try, I'd set myself up for failure by going out of town the VERY NEXT morning after I'd set this up. Alas, my neighbor who was checking in on things missed the instruction for this system so... I've iterated away from the spray tank and its need of constant filling and pressurization. I've connected garden hose to the solenoid w/ a connector that can be had @ Lowes (garden hose to pipe thread). Its now truly set and forget. I'm able to access the device remotely via ssh anywhere I have internet. Its also set as a webserver, but I don't have current data being displayed any longer. I was graphing temperature and humidity in my greenhouse as well as the closest weather station. It wouldn't be hard to build some sort of webpage to control it, but that's not exactly my strength (...but might make an interesting project). As far as calibration, I spent about 2 weeks calibrating it. Its "offness" wasn't linear and the output from the tool provided by the author of the software didn't seem to handle it much better. In an effort to get a usable product, I've scrapped the temperature/humidity sensor controlled parts until such time as I can get better data from them. (This might mean new sensors, or more refinement in calibration.) The system is now only using time as input into when it should mist. I think its set for 10 seconds every 2 hours at present. I managed to get a few Japanese Maple, Juniper, and Crabapple cuttings to root, and I've got a flat of ~90-ish gardenias under mist right now. Hopefully next year I can get started early and in earnest ...and really put this system through its paces. My primary concern is in the finding of interesting stock to root. Also, if a copy of any of Dirr's propagation manuals comes around I might see about acquiring it. I still need to contain the guts of this system in a project box of some sort for a few different reasons. If I can find the time, I may build out benches for my greenhouse ...and see about installing a heating cable.

Linda, there are other ways to lose your livelihood other than being a commercial fisherman should a storm take out several thousand recreational boats here in my town. Many ways. Just a few from the top of my head...marine mechanics, shipwrights, fiberglass specialists, electronics sales/installation/service, rigging specialists, canvas specialties (several types), upholstery specialists, stainless steel fabricators, crane owners & operators, marina owners, dockmasters, deck hands, fuel, pump-out service companies, painters, those who do the shrink-wrapping for winter storage, Tow Boat US franchise owners & their employees, places like West Marine & the marine salvage yard suffer from greatly reduced sales when the boats are not being used, restaurants & their employees (if boaters are not using their boats they aren't in town needing food), hotels, caterers (we have many very large yachts here all summer. They come up from the Caribbean to, hopefully, avoid hurricanes & utilize local caterers every week.), & retail in general. Boaters' purchases are the mainstay of our downtown area. Recreational boating is big business in the Great Lakes area also as it is all along the country's coasts (west, Gulf, & east). People earn their livelihoods in other ways besides farming. And those other livelihoods also ripple through the entire economy. Despite their farms the mid-west is suffering economically right now. So are Connecticut & Rhode Island. IMO, every job we have in America is important...not just farmers. My town lives or dies by the health of our local marine industries that includes oyster bed farmers, scallop divers, commercial fisherman (Stonington, our government jurisdiction, has the last commercial fishing fleet in CT.), sport fishing charter boats, & yes...recreational boaters and all those who support the marine industry that I noted above. The world's largest marine museum is located in Mystic for a reason. As I've said before, Mystic's life blood is the sea.

Frieda, I haven't read Irvine's book but have seen the film with Oliver Reed (and I couldn't spend half-an-hour on a island with him the c*cky b*gger) and she has been interviewed on radio and TV a number of times, And yes, we have juvenile delinquents over here aplenty, and I would agree she is/was certainly an odd character. It had never occured to me that de Teran might have been living as it where in the land of the fairies. I took what she wrote at face value; simple soul that I am. Do you have reason to believe she made up most/some of her time in S America, her spooky husband etc? I certainly didn't find it a 'likeable' book, even her daughter who she annoyingly always refers to as 'the child Iseult' seems rather fay. Another S American book In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin has something very 'otherwordly' about it. I first 'heard' it as a Book at Bedtime reading on the BBC radio very late at night when trying to stay awake to feed number 2 child. I will always associate that book and time with South American 'Nose Flute' music! BC mentions 'Jemmy Button' which reminds me I have a copy of Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle which I have never read. Eight Feet in the Andes by Dervla Murphy I also felt slightly uneasy about. Although I am sure Murphy is comparatively sane I wonder at the sense in taking an eight year old child on this adventure. My idea of fun would not be spent on top of a wind-swept mountain with a donkey, a small child, a can of sardines and an orange! I wonder if the daughter has grown up to be a suburban housewife?

It really doesn't matter what classification system is used in a library, as long as there is a system, it is consistent, easy to understand, and it's easy to find the books you are looking for, even if it means checking the library catalog/database. What I love about Dewey is how it can be adjusted to the needs of each library. A small municipal library may only use the basic classifications, while a research library can be as precise as it wants to be. The Reykjavík public library uses a modified genre-based Dewey system for fiction in English, and while I approve of adjusting the system to the library's needs, it's so inconsistent that it is driving me nuts. Crime novels are kept separately and so are science fiction and fantasy (together!) and romance. They say it is done to make things easier for genre fans, but what is the use of such a system when one librarian files, say, Nora Roberts under romance and another under general fiction and the third under crime and Kurt Vonnegut appears both in the sci-fi and the general fiction section? (I think the problem is that no-one knows what to do with genre-crossing novels). Not all the branches use this system or use it differently, so you have to learn everything all over again if you go to a different branch. Additionally, the computer database does not tell you if a book is classified as general fiction or under a genre (they all have the same Dewey number), so you never know where to look. Furthermore, this system is not used for Icelandic literature or translated literature, or indeed for the literature of any other language than English. It's confusing and I wish they would use the same system all over and be more consistent in their filing.