ita, your subselect

SELECT salary AS top_salary FROM salary_table GROUP BY department

wouldn't work, as [salary] needs to be part of an aggregate function (MAX, etc.) if you're using a GROUP BY.

I really overthought that one...

Thanks.

No prob. I was overthinking it too at first. It does get more complex if you need the employee number too....

This may be a stupid question, but how hard is it to set up a Wordpress installation on a site?

Aha! Dreamhost does it automatically. Never mind.

And on a similar but different note, is there a web design person out here who'd be interested in redesigning a site for me (or my mother's non-profit)? It should be a simple job, and I can pay through PayPal or check or cookies. If so, please e-mail me at my profile address.

Sorted!

Going back to the conversation we had about set-top boxes not too long ago, I'm now strongly considering buying an LG BD390.

It's a blu-ray player, but it also has built-in wireless and USB. It does Netflix and Youtube streaming, and can play just about any type of file from a USB stick, USB hard drive, or network-streamed any DLNA/UPnP compatible server (I'm not really sure what that means, actually, but I'm doing some research). Still, just being able to copy over a season of ahemmed/self-encoded files to a USB key and play away sounds pretty great to me.

Hulu support would, again, be the killer feature addition, but for now it looks like it might be the best set-top out there, and blu-ray is just icing on the cake.

Does it do region free DVD? I need that somehow, and I'd rather not have two devices.

It doesn't look good, ita. Can't find a code anywhere, anyway, though there are some "region-free" ones advertised on E-bay, so either somebody's scamming or there's a code out there somewhere...

Sometimes looking at a device's instruction manual can help you decide if you want to purchase the device for yourself....

HOWTO maintain a Difference Engine

Here's a set of instructions for operating and maintaining the replica of Charles Babbage's mechanical computer -- the storied difference engine -- built and displayed in 1991 at London's Science Museum to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Babbage.

If the Engine is being demonstrated on a daily basis, lt should be oiled and greased at least once a week. If no demonstrations are taking place, then the Engine should be oiled and greased on a monthly basis, but the handle should be turned at least twice a week to cycle the mechanisms.

Grease : "Alvania" grease or it's equivalent should be used.

Grease

1. all vertical motion cam profiles only and their levers.
2. all bevel gears above and below the cam stack.
3. all bevel gears on the carry axes and those on the carry drive shaft.
4. the phasing gear, register pinion, "Impact tooth and the tw-in tooth drive.
5. the pawl wheel and crank pinion.

It's Apple Keynote Day!