This post isn't library-related, but it does tie in quite nicely with my career.

My kids are having fun playing in the Edubuntu Operating System, an educational suite incorporated into the Ubuntu Linux OS. The particular release I am installing is based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, a.k.a., Lucid Lynx. The LTS designates that it is a Long-Term Support version, to be supported for at least three years. With Ubuntu's six month release cycle, it's a good thing to use a stable, supported OS as a base for an educational system. By the way, there are lots of school systems around the world that use Edubuntu, even here in the United States. It's a great idea, especially with the prohibitive costs of licensing Windows or Mac-based software and hardware.

So I've done a lot of work on computers, both inside the software and under the hood. But in the last 27 years of fooling with them, I don't think I've ever see anything like this:



What you are looking at is the backside of an old Nvidia GeForce MX4000 graphics card that was installed in an old HP Pavilion computer my kids have been using for games. The yellow arrow is pointing to a blob of bubble gum. (WTH, right?!?)

I'm still scratching my head as to how it got there, because I KNOW it wasn't there when I installed that card, and to my knowledge, I'm the only one who's unscrewed and removed the case on that machine since we've had it!

I guess this one will go down in history as one of those great tech support mysteries....

'Til next time!