No, I am not a beta tester for win ''Vista'', the upcoming replacement for win XP.
But I have had the chance to ''expirence windows vista'' with a couple of hacks to XP.
HERE IS THE CAUTION; While it works fine on my computer, this could hose your system (and the creator of this makes that quite clear).
I was made aware of this hack for XP from The Inquirer. I downloaded the .zip file, unpacked it, set a restore point and installed it. This (and installing IE7 from micro $oft's site) is the closest thing you can get to ''Vista try before you buy''.
Personally, I like it. It has all of the 'eye candy' of what will likely be called ''vista basic''; NO support for ''areo glass'' (the 3D desktop) or 64-bit CPU's (such as the 64-bit mode of AMD Athlon/sempron 64's).
My opinion, it's cool. On my primary computer I installed it and it works as expected with no problems so far. I installed it in my secondary computer as well. Considering how much that dull laptop sucks (don't get me started) it also went well and installed with only very minor glitches.
Functionally, It IS win XP; made to look and in some ways function like the upcoming ''vista basic''. Note: the window transparency ONLY works for micro $oft programs (such as windows explorer, IE7, the ''Start Menu'' ect.). It does not work for non-micro $oft software such as OpenOffice, FireFox, DivX or Opera.
All that said, here's where you can DL this hack:
http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/05/20/how-to-make-your-xp-machine-look-like-vista-for-free/
I like it...
UPDATE: Going back to the site above reminded me that transparency can be easily adjusted to suit your tastes. Fun to play with.
UPDATE II: You CAN get transparency with non-micro $oft software! I clicked on the FireFox window and used the CTRL-ALT-# key combo to set the window for max transparency. It works with FireFox and it works with ''blogger''.
NOTE: The more transparant you make a window the more sluggish your computer will be... posted by YIH @ 6:42 PM on Sunday, May 28, 2006  : 

This site:
Is SO cutesy I get a hankering for a big 'ol plate of:

Pel-Freeze. Do you dress and clean chickens? Me neither. Can't find THAT ''In Your Grocer's Freezer'' anymore. IT NEVER WAS ''an alternative to chicken''. Frozen chicken was 1/2 to 1/3 the price.
Today it is considered ''an ethnic food'' that no one is interested in offering for sale anymore. There was a time when it was promoted in a well-known National magazine complete with cute cartoon characters... posted by YIH @ 11:57 AM on Saturday, May 20, 2006  : 

When I saw this pic of a model promoting the upcoming movie ''Cars'', I was left to wonder ''is this model male or female?''

Looking at this pic, all I can say with certainty is ''adult human being''.
To determine the gender, I say a blood sample needs to be drawn to determine if it's an XX or an XY chromesome.
If you are wondering about me, it's type O+, with XY chromesomes.
BTW, because of the way it's head and neck are aligned, I can't even say there is an ''adam's apple'' there. That was the clincher, without medical evidence, I must refer to this model as ''it'. Not either ''She'' or ''He'', I consider this photo INCONCLUSIVE of gender. I find it attractive (it is a very good looking model) but I would like to be certain if I was hitting on a man or a woman... posted by YIH @ 2:16 PM on Sunday, May 14, 2006  : 

Look, I'm not ''anti-Nintendo'', I like 'em. Been playing various Nintendo consoles and handhelds for quite literally 20 years. Hell, if you count the coin-op ''Donkey Kong'', OVER 20 years.
I quite understand their urge to respond to the challenge that micro and $oft (face it, gates boo-hooing about having too much money is just too funny. I can help cheer him up, all he has to do is write a check for a million or two and send my way) presented them with the xbox 360 (did you know that micro and $oft LOSES MONEY on EVERY xbox 360 they sell? They are using the ''razor blade'' strategy that has worked quite well for printer manufacturers. Sell the console/printer at a loss, and make it up on the software/ink cartridges).
The one thing Nintendo can be faulted for is their tendency to be ''too japanese'' such as the tendency to include a 'ninja' character in RPGs. This dates back to ''Donkey Kong'', in Japanese the word for ''stupid'' and ''donkey'' are the same word. In their rush to the US market Nintendo merely did a word-for-word translation of the name of a wildly popular video game in Japan and ''Stupid Kong'' became ''Donkey Kong''.
The video game was became a huge hit in the US despite the odd name. Nintendo figured ''Hey, if the Americans have no problem with the name Donkey Kong, neither do we''.
This is demonstrated again by the Nintendo response to micro and $oft's challenge for home videogame supremacy. They have named their new 'super' video game console Wii (pronounced as ''whee''). I wish I was kidding you, but I'm not:
http://wii.nintendo.com/home.html
From what I've seen so far it looks like a something I might like to buy, but the name could wind up being a MAJOR mistake for Nintendo.
Here come the jokes:
''Hey! Check out my whee!''
''My whee is awesome!''
''Would you like to play with my whee?''
And that's just a sample. If Nintendo continues to fail to understand American culture they will join Atari and Sega on the island of misfit videogame companies.
I can see it now; ''Legend of Zelda, for xbox 360!!!'' and ''Super Mario World for PlayStation 3!!!''.
But it's not too late, they have not yet began to offer the ''Evolution'' (the original name for their xbox 360 killer) but if they debut the ''Evolution'' in November '6 (as they are planning to do) with the ''whee'' name they are TOAST!
It doesn't matter how good (or not) the hardware or software is, this bizzare name will kill off Nintendo as a console videogame maker.
But at least they can hold their own in the handheld videogame market... posted by YIH @ 10:09 AM on  : 

The ''president'' was recently here ''to talk up'' Medicare Part D (his crowning achivement; ''a perscription drug plan for senior citizens'').
Some things I noted:
Plush Pillpopper loved to rant and rave about how ''the clinton regime would 'stock the audience' with mindless supporters''. It appears the ''president'' has learned that lesson well.
He needed an audience of silent sheeple and his staff saw to it that is just what he got.
I can hear the JUNK FOOD CONSERVITIVES now:
''DUH, that ok, gotta keep those retards who don't like iraq out of there''. What the JUNK FOOD CONSERVITIVES fail to realize is the 'screening process' that determines whether someone is fit to seek an audience with king george just might also seek to keep out those who might say REALLY STUPID THINGS like:
''Close the border!''
''NO guest worker amnesty!'' and
''Do your job and enforce the law!''.
After all, us peons are not informed enough to decide whether ''islam is a religion of peace'' or not. After all, we need rulers like george herbert walker bush to continue to inform us that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east and that ''islam is a religion of peace''... posted by YIH @ 1:22 PM on Saturday, May 13, 2006  :