John

I recently sent my laptop in to get repaired (the screen backlight had gone out), and while they had my laptop, I asked them to take a look at the fan. It had been kicking in late, long after the processor had already started heating up, so when I played games for awhile they'd start getting laggy until the fan finally kicked in and cooled everything off.

When I got my computer back, everything seemed fine until I tried to play some games (games that had run just fine before I had sent the computer in for repairs). That lagginess (low responsiveness, really low framerate) kicks in within a minute of playing, and it's so bad that the game is unplayable. Could the technician have damaged something while fixing the fan? Could it be a problem with the fan itself? Is there anything I can do to fix it without having to bring it in for repairs again?

I'm currently living in Washington, DC, and in the next few months to a year, I'm going to have to start travelling to New York City pretty frequently (roughly every other weekend). I don't have a car, so I've looked at my bus, train, and plane options. It seems like I can either make the trip in around 4 hours for relatively cheap (bus or train), or make it in 2 hours for $150 or more. I can afford the higher price once, or maybe a couple of times, but it's going to add up if I'm travelling every other weekend. The lower price is manageable, but an 8+ hour round trip is a good chunk of time, especially if my trip is only Friday to Sunday.

Is there some secret fast and cheap method of travel that I've missed, or am I going to be stuck choosing between the time consuming and wallet draining options?

I debated asking this at all, since most of the answers will probably be enraged rants from both sides of the aisle, but I'm really curious to find out if anyone has any real grounding for this. Ideally I'd like some serious insight, but honestly I'm not optimistic.

Days after Obama was elected President, a stranger proudly pointed to her t-shirt that said "2008: End of an Era, Beginning of an Error" and explained to me that Obama would probably soon be using local buildings to jail political dissidents. I had followed the presidential campaigns closely, and nothing that either McCain or Obama said made me think that they would be fundamentally breaking with the tenets of freedom and democracy by punishing people who disagreed with them politically. At the time, I assumed the woman was just projecting - she kinda wanted to jail anyone who disagreed with her political views, so she assumed her opponents wanted to do the same thing.

Now, though, in the third year of Obama's presidency, I still sometimes hear people calling Obama a tyrant or dictator. As far as I can understand, one of two options is possible. Either I've missed something huge and Obama is actually acting as a dictator and stripping people of their ability to participate in the democratic process, or some people are just way too eager to call their political opponents tyrants and dictators.

If anything, it seems like Obama's problem is that he's not forceful enough - most of the major changes he's tried to make were so disfigured and neutered before the end by his political opposition that they didn't change much at all. So, what is it that qualifies Obama as a dictator? Is it the tax stuff? Because wanting to raise taxes seems like a really low bar to qualify someone as a dictator, and the way some people talk about it, you'd think Obama-worshiping stormtroopers are setting up camps all over the country as we speak, preparing to incarcerate anyone who doesn't vote for him.

I took guitar lessons years ago, but back then I was more interested in learning individual songs than actual theory, which I now regret. I have a little (not much, but a little) free time on my hands now, and I can find tabs on the internet and memorize them, but I'd like to go beyond that and maybe pick up a little music theory so I can understand what I'm playing and maybe play some things that haven't been written out note for note.

I don't have the money or time for lessons, but I have the internet and a decent acoustic guitar, and I can probably stand to buy a music book or two if anyone has any good ones to recommend. So, any suggestions on where to start?

I'm not trying to imply that the Nobel Prize doesn't have integrity, but what exactly preserves its integrity? What keeps the Nobel Prize from devolving into some illegitimate award that's based entirely on politics?

Where's the best place to get some pulled pork in Chapel Hill? Also, are there any buffet-style southern cooking places around?

Does anyone know which sports bars in Charleston, SC, are going to be showing the July 11 UFC 100 fight on TV?

I heard once that the governor of South Carolina is limited in his official powers compared to the governors of other states, and that most of the power goes to the state legislature. Does anyone know the exact details of this?

Someone recently told me about an Orthodox Christian seminary or theological school in the Vatican. Does anyone know the name of it, or have any more information on it?

I'm in Nashville, TN, and I'm looking for a place where I can get imported Russian beer. I've seen a couple of cans in a liquor store where I live, but I'm looking for a bigger selection - Baltika, Nevskoye, Arsenalnoye, something along those lines.

I've got a Dell Inspiron E1505 with an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 video card (I'm sure the problem is with my video card) and I'm trying to run Grand Theft Auto 4. Is there anything I can do immediately to let it run? Also, is it ever possible to upgrade the video card on a laptop?

One is a PC, one is a laptop, both are using Windows XP. We're trying to play a multiplayer game without having to connect to the internet.