OS X running doggedly slow?

Suggested fixes:

1. Load up Activity Monitor
2. Sort the process list by Real Mem -- perhaps you can close something taking up tons of RAM, such as Firefox?
3. Now click System Memory near the bottom
4. Look at Inactive Memory -- if it's larger than, say, 100 MB: open Terminal and type "purge"

FYI this might require XCode

How to get access to a person's Flickr photos

The easiest way to get access to a person's shared Flickr photos is to ask the user to add you as a contact. After emailing them your Flickr username ( click here for instructions on how to get a free Flickr account if you don't have one already ) they will need to follow these steps:

To have another Flickr user add you as a contact in Flickr:

1. That user needs to log into Flickr ( http://www.flickr.com )
2. Near the top middle of the main Flickr page is "Contacts" -- to its right is a drop-down arrow. That user needs to click that drop-down arrow to open the Contacts drop-down menu.
3. That user needs to click People Search, which will be an entry in the Contacts drop-down menu.
4. That user needs to search for your email address or Flickr screen name in the search field and click the blue and white Search button just to its right.
5. Your username should appear in the search results; that user needs to click Add as Contact for your username. That will then bring up a window where that user can also designate you as Family and/or Friend.
6. That user then has to make sure photos in their Flickr photostream have been marked either as (a) public or (b) viewable by Friends or (c) viewable by Family.

You'll get an email once you're added with a bunch of links; I believe the third link is to add the user as a contact. Make sure to click the appropriate link to add the user to your Flickr contact list.

Assuming that this all works out, here's how you now look at the user's photos going forward:

1. Log into Flickr
2. Near the top middle of the main Flickr page is "Contacts" -- to its right is a drop-down arrow. Click that drop-down arrow to open the Contacts drop-down menu.
3. Now click Contact List, which will be an entry in the Contacts drop-down menu.

You should now see a list of your contacts. The user with whom you've been communicating should be listed. If you click on the username, you should see any photos that the user has listed as being viewable either:

• publicly,
• for friends, or
• for family

How to get a free Flickr.com account

1. In your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.), type:
   http://www.flickr.com (or click this link: Flickr Home Page )


2. Click the big grey and pink button in the upper-right named "Create Your Account"
3. If you have a Yahoo! account, log in with that username and password.
   
   Otherwise, if you have a Google or Facebook account, you can link either of those accounts to your about-to-be-created Flickr account. You'll be requested to log into Google/Facebook, then will be prompted to grant Flickr access to your Google/Facebook account.
4. Flickr will then ask you to choose a screen name -- this is how you'll be known on Flickr. Click the continue / next button.
5. Flickr will then ask you for three pieces of information for verification purposes:
   a) First name
   b) Last name
   c) Birthdate