Alison, you can check your speed using a tool like CNET's Bandwidth Meter speed test.

Truth be told, though, I'd be really surprised if this were the problem. I can't think of a way in which the speed of the download would affect the plugin.

One question I'd ask is the order in which you installed the two programs (Firefox and Adobe Reader). One just may have had a problem with the plugin; a problem that might be fixed by reversing the order.

(Of course, my knowledge of this area is hampered by my not having done this on Windows in quite some time.)

Hope you can make it better, though.

random question from the semi-illiterate peanut gallery:

How do I know what my internet connection speed is? I'm on Shaw cable...

And the reason why I'm asking: Adobe 7.0 isn't working in Firefox all of a sudden, it used to. Oh, if I change the plugin to use Adobe 5.1, I don't have any problems, and if I remember to start running Adobe before I start running any firefox programs, then I'm okay too... but if I forget, and try to open a pdf on the web, then all I get is a blank window. There seems to be a similar problem with someone else on the mozillaZine forums page but unless the only problem is my connection speed being poorly represented, I don't get it. Anyone got an idea? or at least know what the bps are for Shaw?

hey - if anyone is interested in going to see a production of "HMS Pinafore" next weekend, let me know!

Great clip from Richard Dawkins' doc "Root of All Evil?"

That's a pretty cool pic, Pete, but the idea of whiny Tobey Maguire now playing a whiny Symbiote-Spider-Man doesn't exactly have me excited to see the film.

Lucky Loonie Planted in Curling Ice:

Brad Gushue's rink didn't seem to need much luck in winning gold at the Olympics on Friday, but it seemed someone wasn't taking any chances.

A Canadian icemaker apparently buried a pair of loonies in the championship ice sheet. A similar tactic worked in 2002 in Salt Lake City when Canada won men's and women's hockey gold.

Not a black and white photo:

that, and we all know it's your one true secret passion.

well, Paras, as anyone in the liberal arts/literary studies will tell you, it's only once you understand the conventions of writing and communication that you can effectively dispose of them.