Paste in Front hack?
 

I cant quite put my finger on it, but some times when I duplicate or copy/paste an object it acts as a Paste In Front (perhaps the only feature I want more than vectorize text.) Is there some reproducible way to get this effect that I havent figured out yet, or is it something that just happens randomly?

cheers,
-X

Maybe I am missing something. For me it [I]always[/I] pastes in front.

Are you using layers, and not realising that you are ? As in, you are "in" a middle layer (not the rear-most or the fore-most), and you paste and object ... well, it will be behind the objects in the foremost layer. and in front of all the objects in the middle layer. You need to be aware of, the distinctions between, which layer is:
• selected (pink band)
• has objects selected (rectangle with handles)
• target for drawing/pasting (pencil)