In terms of arguments:

Can you tell them that having a site that can't be seen on blackberries (and cell phones in general), that can't be seen on low bandwidth connections (and that include a lot of wireless connections on laptops) is really unprofessional. Putting stuff into flash that does not need to be put into flash is a widely made mistake, comitted b people who don't know that they are doing. Would it be too harsh to say that you think too much of this company to have your site make mistakes that label as amatateur hour?

Point out that google does not use flash or high res graphics.

Also point out that in general, super high res graphics don't belong on either the main page or integrated into into pages with a lot of text information. The professional way to use high res graphics is integate low res graphics into standard pages that serve as links to high res.

Are there exceptions to this? Sure major ones: sites whose business model centers around media - Disney, Tv networks that sort of things. (Even then I think it would be bette if the fuckers did not put flash video on the main page.)

I will add that a flash site not only excludes phone users and many other mobile users. Most journals ban flash from the newsroom, because of the security risks. So if you make your site flash-centric you are also making in inaccessible to the many journalists. Is free publicity unimportant to your business?

Command-V gives no joy--bootup screen with or without it doesn't get to the spinny circular bars. I held them down both right after powering it on and before powering it on until my hand got uncomfortable, and nothing.

ita, this is a Mac laptop, right?

I'm not sure if this is a useful strategy, but I'd try unplugging it and removing the battery for a minute or so... then put the battery back in and see if it boots.

The only other thing you can try is to boot off of the install disk, and try to repair your filesystem.

Oh, you could try reseating the RAM?

If you reboot with the option key held down do you get a screen of boot device choices?

I'm guessing the Tiger Update CD is a no go? Dammit. That's all I can find. I don't know if I had anything else, unless ... fuck. Would it have shipped with the laptop? I don't know where any other discs are. Man, this is my most-used machine.

I'll try the RAM. The memory doesn't do anything either.

If you reboot with the option key held down do you get a screen of boot device choices?

I'll do that next.

The Tiger Update CD ought to work. You can boot from it, choose not to install, and run Disk Utility from the Menu.

Choose not to install. Good. Because install? NSM. The option key thingy did work, but I didn't notice any options other than installing. Will redo.