I think I fixed the dns problem which I described at the meeting.
It seems that web browsers are much more picky about dns timeouts
(Especailly on mac). I added a line to my bind config to use my ISP's
dns servers as forwarders (which I am told is the "right" way to do it
anyways) and it seems to have fixed the problem, and surfing is visibly
quicker to start now.
Theodore