I just bought an iPhone here in Canada. They couldn't activate it in the store, but they said to take it home and plug it into iTunes and hopefully some time it would activate.
I still can't get into iTunes, but somehow my iPhone automagically activated itself anyway. I just can't sync with my computer yet, I guess.
For my part, it doesn't matter as I also happen to have my old phone, and my wife's phone with me as I haven't ported my number over yet. I figured I'm covered with 3 mobile phones for the day;-)
Again, you're falling into the trap of deciding that the solution you've decided is best for other people must be best for them. Having a cell phone backup might be good for YOU but it won't be good for other people.
For example, you presume that people trading stocks are doing so via a web site. There are actually software packages that people download and use that receive and parse pricing streams. I'm not going to get into all the reasons why using a mobile phone may not be the best solution for everybody, because I can't be bothered, but also because I don't KNOW everybody's situation. And that's precisely my point.
I should also point out that I am not personally a day trader, but I'm just using it as one example.
Also, it should be obvious that we're not talking about the "average" (to use your word) home user. The AVERAGE home user in North America barely has need for high-speed internet access, and actually may not have it. Almost everybody on Slashdot would not qualify as the "average" user. However, that doesn't mean that our internet needs or wants are automatically completely unreasonable.
As far as saying that if somebody needs redundant internet services at home they should be ponying up for a business-class line, that's ridiculous too. To use a car analogy, that's like saying that if somebody needs a delivery van larger than a minivan, they should be buying a semi-truck. There are very very many shades and nuances of need out there and that is why there are multiple solutions.
I'm not sure what actual value a "business class" DSL sent to a residential address has over a residential DSL line. You get to pay more, so if you're into that go ahead. Personally I'd rather spend my money on redundant lines. I don't know when the last time you priced a T1 or fibre to your house was, but around here you're looking at several thousands of dollars to run the fibre, and then hundreds if not over a thousand dollars a month for the service. There's a gulf of difference in need between someone who's willing to spend $50/month for some peace of mind, and someone who's willing to spend $8,000 to lay fibre to their house and then another $900/month for a leased line.
Even if the scenario mentioned in this article affects 1/1000 of the Slashdot population, that's still over a thousand of us on here who find this topic useful.
Cable/DSL will provide the potential reliability you'd be looking for, I think. But, as a home user, some 98-99% (even if not 99.97%) uptime isn't good enough? For the additional cost, it's not worth the extra -average- hour per month of downtime you gain 'back'.
Umm, who are you to tell someone else what's worth it and what isn't? I can see a lot of situations where one would feel the extra $50 or so per month is worth it. For instance, if you're day trading from home, a 20 minute outage at the wrong time can cost a LOT more than $50. Additionally, being able to automatically choose the connection with the lowest ping time could be a benefit.
This is just one of many many examples of why somebody might want to have redundant home connections. Just because YOU don't have a use for it, that doesn't mean there aren't many many other people who would find this useful.
I think I'll be looking into exactly this in the next year or so, so this topic is very interesting to me.
That's what I do. I just successfully moved about 10,000 email into two different accounts last week. You can move your inbox, other folders, sent email, etc. just fine.
I used Apple Mail but I'm sure Thunderbird would work just as well.
This seems like a good space to interject a rant I wrote on the SageTV forums a couple weeks ago. This was in response to someone suggesting I use Bell Expressvu satellite since in their opinion Sympatico was a good choice. I hope anybody who's reading this thread and is using Bell Sympatico will seriously consider switching to someone else.
Oh man, where do I start? Let me start with their latest jewel, of shipping 2wire routers to their customers with a HUGE KNOWN SECURITY VULNERABILITY. And yes, that deserves to be in caps. From a remote web site, your router can have its default password changed, and from there unimportant little pages like your bank's web site can be easily diverted to a page in Kyrgistan and next thing you know all your money's gone. I was able to verify this myself and was able to change my password from the URL string without knowing my password. Brilliant. Known exploits are in the wild and Bell is still shipping these things, and has no firmware upgrade in place. You still like Sympatico?
How about throttling P2P traffic? If that's not bad enough, how about throttling their corporate clients' P2P traffic, like Teksavvy? I'd be surprised if I didn't see a lawsuit about that soon.
How about blocking outbound port 25? Not a problem for you maybe if you're happy using Sympatico's SMTP server for everything and I understand the rationale behind it, but the fact is that it's 100% trivial for malware writers to get around in about 15 seconds of extra programming, but it is a huge PITA for those of us relying on our DSL connections to make a living and/or take our laptop to different networks.
During my last encounter with Bell just last week, I was trying to get them to install a demarcation box for our new house. I didn't want Bell for phone or DSL (can you guess why) but I still needed them to run the copper. Well, I get a guy who is obviously in India (besides the Indian accent, the phone line was terrible and there was significant lag). That's fine, I have nothing against Indians in India or in Canada, and nothing really against hiring Indian tech support. My problem was with the conversation. He said his name is Michael but everybody calls him Mike. Then he tells me he's a "specialist in bringing down prices". Good for him, he had a sense of humour. He tells me that everything nowadays is going up except his paycheque, thanks to McGinty and Harper. Look the guy's obviously not in Canada, so why is he pretending to be? My supposition: because his employer makes him. It's not "Mike's" fault. It's Bell's fault. If Bell's going to outsource tech support, at least be honest about it. But honesty is not Bell's way. This is why I say they hate their customers.
To carry that story on further, I was told that they would not install the demarc box on my house unless I agreed to either get DSL through them or pay at least $22/month for a phone line. This AFAIK is totally bogus and in fact runs completely against their contractual obligations that come with having a government-granted monopoly. So why are they trying to trick me into signing up for their services?
Let's contrast that to Teksavvy. I called them up to ask them what to do about this. I got a guy in Chatham, ON on a crystal clear phone line. I can c
If you're around Ottawa or feel like going there, there's a "Net Neutrality Rally" on May 27: www.netneutralityrally.ca.
My ISP (Teksavvy) emailed me a couple hours ago saying apparently most of the Teksavvy staff is taking the day off to go to the rally so please only call in with tech support questions if it's really important.
No kidding. I'm actually a paid Office:Mac user (albeit a previous version) and I still use Neo Office. Other than being slow to load, it does everything I want it to, and it's free.
Unless you have some special need for Microsoft Office that Neo Office doesn't meet, I don't see any reason to pay for Microsoft Office other than just not knowing any better.
Waaaah, cry me a river. I'd LOVE to be able to pay and obtain US data rates. I certainly miss $15/month "unlimited" data on my phone or $70/month "unlimited" usage with a data card from when I lived in the US.
Back here in Canada I'm currently paying $40/month for 8MB on my Blackberry. The biggest plan I can even buy on Bell Canada is 1GB/month for $100. Every MB over that costs $1 so for your "measly" 5GB cap I'd be paying $4100.
It's also worth noting that on my 8MB/month plan I'm paying $6/MB overage.
The sad and criminal fact is that companies charge these numbers because they can. US companies apparently feel their point of maximum profit is at a lower price point than the Canadian companies do. Obviously from the number of people in both Canada and the US with data plans, it's not the case that "practically nobody" is willing to spend the money on the plans.
Remember that not everyone's situation is like yours. Until last weekend I was on a 100 acre farm probably 200 metres from the road. The problem with our young German Shepherd wasn't that he ran onto the road, but that he would run to the neighbour's farm to play with their dog. He'd stick around outside the house for an hour or so until you got your guard down and stopped checking every two minutes, and then he'd just take off.
We'd have done a better job training that out of him but since we knew we were moving and it was mostly an issue of just living where we were we just dealt with it. I don't think I'd buy this gadget either but something like it might be useful.
I am just trying to ponder what *I* would need 1 Tb of disk space for, when my 40Gb drive is barely used.
Well, I think you've asked a question with a self-evident answer. *You* don't need 1TB of disk space. Others do. For instance, we just had our first baby and in anticipation of that I purchased a Canon HG10 video camera that records at 1080i (or 24p). In the first month or so of usage, we've generated over 100GB of video when it's expanded out to work with. The source files are much smaller, but then again I haven't backed that up anywhere either.
Add into that my PVR which at the setting I use, uses about 5.5GB/hr recording TV. It's going to be much larger when I buy an HDTV and figure out how to record in high-def.
Then of course there's my 120GB or so of music (I record in lossless). Add to that another 50GB or so of digital photos, and the need to back all of that up.
Oh yeah. Then there's client databases and everything I need for the work that pays for all this.
So that's where *I* use it. I may be slightly ahead of the usage curve, but in 5 years this will be normal. At that point I'll likely have 10TB of drive space and you'll be wondering how you're going to fill your 500GB drive;-)
If you can prove to me you know your shit, I'll give you some leeway, but that leeway is probably just having your box dumped out into the DMZ, and you screw it up, you fix it.
Yeah, way to go. Great idea. So when your "clueless user's" box in the DMZ is pwned and your boss' boss' boss and the company lawyers are wondering how the competition knows the quarter's sales number before they're announced, you can complain about how stupid the user was for not being able to secure the box that you put out in the DMZ.
Ah, but there you've nailed the issue. If you go to a Tim Hortons in the US, their "small" is the same cup as our "medium". They don't have our small. If you order a "medium regular" there you'll get get the same as a Canadian "large regular".
The reason Starbucks' small is called a "mezzo" and their medium is a "grande" is because their medium is really large, and their smalls are not particularly small. Therefore, although it may be Starbucks' smallest size, it is not actually a small cup of coffee. From that point of view, I think that although the names of their coffees are definitely foo-foo, they are also an honest reflection of thir size.
That's because he's reviewing a "laaptap". This is how one reviews a laaptap.
I hear people with an accent like that and I just want to sit them down and force them to learn how to pronounce the letter "o". Ooooooooooo. Say it after me.
There are two schools of thought for eating out. Let's call them the American way and the European way.
In the American way, you sit down, eat your meal, get your bill, and leave. The wait staff is there to get you what you want, and mostly to do it quickly. "Moving tables" is encouraged, and most Americans don't like or want to sit down and wait a long time for anything. They are there to eat, and to get out.
In the European way, you sit down, are brought what you want, and are not pressured for what you want to do next. Your next stage of the meal may not come for another half hour, but that's OK because you are there to enjoy your afternoon or evening, and enjoy your time with family and friends. You may sit down after the meal with a coffee or glass of port, and not be asked anything by the wait staff for maybe 45 minutes, unless it appears that you want more of something. You certainly will not be brought your bill before you ask for it, as the wait staff does not want you to feel that you are being rushed out the door. That would not be relaxing.
When I spend a bit of time in Europe and then come back to North America, I find the attitude in most restaurants, even "higher end" ones, to be rushed and not that relaxing. When my steak is arriving 5 seconds after I'm done my salad, it just doesn't feel right. On the other hand, if you are used to that, and you go to a "European" style restaurant, you may feel like it's too slow and people aren't attentive to your needs.
Your commentary was responding to poor service. When you ask for your bill and it takes 15 minutes to get it, that's poor service. The grandparent was referring to feeling rushed when they're in a restaurant in North America. That's not "good service", that's just being rushed. But it's what most Americans (including you, most likely, and that's just fine) want, so that's how most restaurants are. It's what I want too, when I'm in a rush:-)
OK, what's your take on this situation? I pay $60/month or whatever it is for satellite TV service (Star Choice in Canada). That includes a whole bunch of HD channels. However, none of the HD receivers I can buy (without spending $700 for a hacked one) let me output a high definition feed to my computer, which runs my PVR.
Now, let's say I want to watch a program in HD, which is available on the satellite service for which I'm paying. Since I can't do that, even though I'm paying for it, my only option is to download that SAME PROGRAM off the internet, since someone else out there was kind enough to buy the equipment and make it available to me.
Sure, the commercials are skipped in the downloaded version, but that's not a factor for comparison since my PVR skips 95% of the commercials for me automatically anyway.
Why is it OK for me to watch a recorded version of something I have paid to receive and recorded myself, vs. something I have paid to receive but someone else has recorded for me?
Taking this to the next step (which, as you will note, I have not as I still pay for satellite service), if I can't watch the HD programming that I'm PAYING FOR anyway in the way that I want to watch it, and it's easier and cheaper for me to downloading it from the internet, why am I paying for TV service anyway?
This is the problem with all this DRM. It stops those of us who are WILLING to pay a reasonable fee for content from being able to do so. These companies deserve what they get if they continue down this road.
Then again, maybe this isn't the "diesel Land Rover" you want. BTW, in regards to safety, did you see this article? Very very sad. As a soon-to-be father with one of these trucks I'm going to make a mental note to not drive it into a river (and I don't mean in this manner) and if I do, to make sure I pull my family to safety before abandoning the truck.
Re:French cooking is like this too
on
Chefs As Chemists
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
It sounds like you've just described most activities that people outside those activities find hard.
Auto mechanics ain't in general hard at all. It's just knowing which nuts and bolts to undo, in which order, and on which part.
Assembling one's own computer ain't in general hard at all. It's just knowing which parts are compatible with which parts, plugging components into each other, and knowing when you are in danger of frying a component due to static electricity and when you aren't.
It reminds me of an anecdote I've heard attributed to Henry Ford but couldn't find after an exhaustive 30 second search on Google. Henry had some equipment that was malfunctioning, and his engineers couldn't figure out what was wrong. He decided to call in the guy, let's call him Bill, who had designed the equipment. Bill spent 45 minutes working on the equipment, got it working, and left. A couple weeks later Henry received an invoice from Bill for $10,000. Henry called Bill up and said, "I know your time is valuable, but don't you think $10k is a little much for twirling a few knobs and bolts?". Bill agreed and said he'd adjust the bill. Henry got an adjusted bill soon afterwards that said, "Adjusting a few knobs and bolts: $1000. Knowing which knobs and bolts to adjust: $9000."
So I've babbled on enough, and I agree with you that once you get into cooking, much of it isn't that daunting, but neither are most other pastimes once you've figured them out.
The person to whom you responded didn't say at all that they pirate software. You read that into his comment.
As far as I'm concerned, I pre-ordered the family pack of Leopard today. I also have legally purchased copies of 10.4, 10.3 and 10.2 which is when I switched to Apple. One of the things I appreciate is that Apple doesn't treat me like a criminal when I am installing legally purchased version of their operating system. I reward that behaviour by doing the right thing and buying their operating system.
In contrast, I have lost track of the number of Microsoft products I have bought over the years. This includes two licenses of Windows XP Pro. I have become so sick of being treated like a pirate by Microsoft when installing LEGALLY PURCHASED SOFTWARE that I now just install the cracked versions.
So don't assume that just because someone says you CAN pirate software, it means that they are.
I use XPlornet in southwestern Ontario and they don't have any limits, other than their speed. I'm out in the country so can't get DSL or cable, and XPlornet has a 900MHz fixed wireless service here that I use. They're a GREAT ISP and I highly recommend them, although most DSL packages are faster.
I have a fixed IP address and they specifically told me there are no limits as to what I can do with my bandwidth. I can host web sites, run P2P, whatever. The only downside is that my actual bandwidth is usually around 1300/300kpbs.
Slashdot Mirror
I just bought an iPhone here in Canada. They couldn't activate it in the store, but they said to take it home and plug it into iTunes and hopefully some time it would activate.
;-)
I still can't get into iTunes, but somehow my iPhone automagically activated itself anyway. I just can't sync with my computer yet, I guess.
For my part, it doesn't matter as I also happen to have my old phone, and my wife's phone with me as I haven't ported my number over yet. I figured I'm covered with 3 mobile phones for the day
Again, you're falling into the trap of deciding that the solution you've decided is best for other people must be best for them. Having a cell phone backup might be good for YOU but it won't be good for other people.
For example, you presume that people trading stocks are doing so via a web site. There are actually software packages that people download and use that receive and parse pricing streams. I'm not going to get into all the reasons why using a mobile phone may not be the best solution for everybody, because I can't be bothered, but also because I don't KNOW everybody's situation. And that's precisely my point.
I should also point out that I am not personally a day trader, but I'm just using it as one example.
Also, it should be obvious that we're not talking about the "average" (to use your word) home user. The AVERAGE home user in North America barely has need for high-speed internet access, and actually may not have it. Almost everybody on Slashdot would not qualify as the "average" user. However, that doesn't mean that our internet needs or wants are automatically completely unreasonable.
As far as saying that if somebody needs redundant internet services at home they should be ponying up for a business-class line, that's ridiculous too. To use a car analogy, that's like saying that if somebody needs a delivery van larger than a minivan, they should be buying a semi-truck. There are very very many shades and nuances of need out there and that is why there are multiple solutions.
I'm not sure what actual value a "business class" DSL sent to a residential address has over a residential DSL line. You get to pay more, so if you're into that go ahead. Personally I'd rather spend my money on redundant lines. I don't know when the last time you priced a T1 or fibre to your house was, but around here you're looking at several thousands of dollars to run the fibre, and then hundreds if not over a thousand dollars a month for the service. There's a gulf of difference in need between someone who's willing to spend $50/month for some peace of mind, and someone who's willing to spend $8,000 to lay fibre to their house and then another $900/month for a leased line.
Even if the scenario mentioned in this article affects 1/1000 of the Slashdot population, that's still over a thousand of us on here who find this topic useful.
Umm, who are you to tell someone else what's worth it and what isn't? I can see a lot of situations where one would feel the extra $50 or so per month is worth it. For instance, if you're day trading from home, a 20 minute outage at the wrong time can cost a LOT more than $50. Additionally, being able to automatically choose the connection with the lowest ping time could be a benefit.
This is just one of many many examples of why somebody might want to have redundant home connections. Just because YOU don't have a use for it, that doesn't mean there aren't many many other people who would find this useful.
I think I'll be looking into exactly this in the next year or so, so this topic is very interesting to me.
That's what I do. I just successfully moved about 10,000 email into two different accounts last week. You can move your inbox, other folders, sent email, etc. just fine.
I used Apple Mail but I'm sure Thunderbird would work just as well.
If you're around Ottawa or feel like going there, there's a "Net Neutrality Rally" on May 27: www.netneutralityrally.ca.
My ISP (Teksavvy) emailed me a couple hours ago saying apparently most of the Teksavvy staff is taking the day off to go to the rally so please only call in with tech support questions if it's really important.
That's pretty cool if you ask me.
- Andrew.
Actually, if you buy a $5 pair of ripped jeans then you are a trend setter. If you buy a $200 pair of ripped jeans then you are a trend follower.
If you wear a pair of hot pink ripped cutoff jeans that you bought for $5 and nobody copies you, then you're just a weirdo.
No kidding. I'm actually a paid Office:Mac user (albeit a previous version) and I still use Neo Office. Other than being slow to load, it does everything I want it to, and it's free.
Unless you have some special need for Microsoft Office that Neo Office doesn't meet, I don't see any reason to pay for Microsoft Office other than just not knowing any better.
Waaaah, cry me a river. I'd LOVE to be able to pay and obtain US data rates. I certainly miss $15/month "unlimited" data on my phone or $70/month "unlimited" usage with a data card from when I lived in the US.
Back here in Canada I'm currently paying $40/month for 8MB on my Blackberry. The biggest plan I can even buy on Bell Canada is 1GB/month for $100. Every MB over that costs $1 so for your "measly" 5GB cap I'd be paying $4100.
It's also worth noting that on my 8MB/month plan I'm paying $6/MB overage.
The sad and criminal fact is that companies charge these numbers because they can. US companies apparently feel their point of maximum profit is at a lower price point than the Canadian companies do. Obviously from the number of people in both Canada and the US with data plans, it's not the case that "practically nobody" is willing to spend the money on the plans.
Remember that not everyone's situation is like yours. Until last weekend I was on a 100 acre farm probably 200 metres from the road. The problem with our young German Shepherd wasn't that he ran onto the road, but that he would run to the neighbour's farm to play with their dog. He'd stick around outside the house for an hour or so until you got your guard down and stopped checking every two minutes, and then he'd just take off.
We'd have done a better job training that out of him but since we knew we were moving and it was mostly an issue of just living where we were we just dealt with it. I don't think I'd buy this gadget either but something like it might be useful.
Add into that my PVR which at the setting I use, uses about 5.5GB/hr recording TV. It's going to be much larger when I buy an HDTV and figure out how to record in high-def.
Then of course there's my 120GB or so of music (I record in lossless). Add to that another 50GB or so of digital photos, and the need to back all of that up.
Oh yeah. Then there's client databases and everything I need for the work that pays for all this.
So that's where *I* use it. I may be slightly ahead of the usage curve, but in 5 years this will be normal. At that point I'll likely have 10TB of drive space and you'll be wondering how you're going to fill your 500GB drive
Good luck with your job.
Ah, but there you've nailed the issue. If you go to a Tim Hortons in the US, their "small" is the same cup as our "medium". They don't have our small. If you order a "medium regular" there you'll get get the same as a Canadian "large regular".
The reason Starbucks' small is called a "mezzo" and their medium is a "grande" is because their medium is really large, and their smalls are not particularly small. Therefore, although it may be Starbucks' smallest size, it is not actually a small cup of coffee. From that point of view, I think that although the names of their coffees are definitely foo-foo, they are also an honest reflection of thir size.
Yes you can. COW breast milk.
I'm sorry. That was an udderly lame comment.
That's because he's reviewing a "laaptap". This is how one reviews a laaptap.
I hear people with an accent like that and I just want to sit them down and force them to learn how to pronounce the letter "o". Ooooooooooo. Say it after me.
BTW, FYI, etc.:
verses
versus
There are two schools of thought for eating out. Let's call them the American way and the European way.
:-)
In the American way, you sit down, eat your meal, get your bill, and leave. The wait staff is there to get you what you want, and mostly to do it quickly. "Moving tables" is encouraged, and most Americans don't like or want to sit down and wait a long time for anything. They are there to eat, and to get out.
In the European way, you sit down, are brought what you want, and are not pressured for what you want to do next. Your next stage of the meal may not come for another half hour, but that's OK because you are there to enjoy your afternoon or evening, and enjoy your time with family and friends. You may sit down after the meal with a coffee or glass of port, and not be asked anything by the wait staff for maybe 45 minutes, unless it appears that you want more of something. You certainly will not be brought your bill before you ask for it, as the wait staff does not want you to feel that you are being rushed out the door. That would not be relaxing.
When I spend a bit of time in Europe and then come back to North America, I find the attitude in most restaurants, even "higher end" ones, to be rushed and not that relaxing. When my steak is arriving 5 seconds after I'm done my salad, it just doesn't feel right. On the other hand, if you are used to that, and you go to a "European" style restaurant, you may feel like it's too slow and people aren't attentive to your needs.
Your commentary was responding to poor service. When you ask for your bill and it takes 15 minutes to get it, that's poor service. The grandparent was referring to feeling rushed when they're in a restaurant in North America. That's not "good service", that's just being rushed. But it's what most Americans (including you, most likely, and that's just fine) want, so that's how most restaurants are. It's what I want too, when I'm in a rush
OK, what's your take on this situation? I pay $60/month or whatever it is for satellite TV service (Star Choice in Canada). That includes a whole bunch of HD channels. However, none of the HD receivers I can buy (without spending $700 for a hacked one) let me output a high definition feed to my computer, which runs my PVR.
Now, let's say I want to watch a program in HD, which is available on the satellite service for which I'm paying. Since I can't do that, even though I'm paying for it, my only option is to download that SAME PROGRAM off the internet, since someone else out there was kind enough to buy the equipment and make it available to me.
Sure, the commercials are skipped in the downloaded version, but that's not a factor for comparison since my PVR skips 95% of the commercials for me automatically anyway.
Why is it OK for me to watch a recorded version of something I have paid to receive and recorded myself, vs. something I have paid to receive but someone else has recorded for me?
Taking this to the next step (which, as you will note, I have not as I still pay for satellite service), if I can't watch the HD programming that I'm PAYING FOR anyway in the way that I want to watch it, and it's easier and cheaper for me to downloading it from the internet, why am I paying for TV service anyway?
This is the problem with all this DRM. It stops those of us who are WILLING to pay a reasonable fee for content from being able to do so. These companies deserve what they get if they continue down this road.
Apparently, though, he CAN have the 15 seconds it took you to type a response.
That's a great site. I wonder how much money it's made.
I'm not trying to rub it in, but...
Then again, maybe this isn't the "diesel Land Rover" you want. BTW, in regards to safety, did you see this article? Very very sad. As a soon-to-be father with one of these trucks I'm going to make a mental note to not drive it into a river (and I don't mean in this manner) and if I do, to make sure I pull my family to safety before abandoning the truck.
Come on, mods, ignorance is no excuse. Genesis 10:9
Umm, what's "/me support" in iChat?
I use Adium anyway but I'm just curious.
It sounds like you've just described most activities that people outside those activities find hard.
Auto mechanics ain't in general hard at all. It's just knowing which nuts and bolts to undo, in which order, and on which part.
Assembling one's own computer ain't in general hard at all. It's just knowing which parts are compatible with which parts, plugging components into each other, and knowing when you are in danger of frying a component due to static electricity and when you aren't.
It reminds me of an anecdote I've heard attributed to Henry Ford but couldn't find after an exhaustive 30 second search on Google. Henry had some equipment that was malfunctioning, and his engineers couldn't figure out what was wrong. He decided to call in the guy, let's call him Bill, who had designed the equipment. Bill spent 45 minutes working on the equipment, got it working, and left. A couple weeks later Henry received an invoice from Bill for $10,000. Henry called Bill up and said, "I know your time is valuable, but don't you think $10k is a little much for twirling a few knobs and bolts?". Bill agreed and said he'd adjust the bill. Henry got an adjusted bill soon afterwards that said, "Adjusting a few knobs and bolts: $1000. Knowing which knobs and bolts to adjust: $9000."
So I've babbled on enough, and I agree with you that once you get into cooking, much of it isn't that daunting, but neither are most other pastimes once you've figured them out.
The person to whom you responded didn't say at all that they pirate software. You read that into his comment.
As far as I'm concerned, I pre-ordered the family pack of Leopard today. I also have legally purchased copies of 10.4, 10.3 and 10.2 which is when I switched to Apple. One of the things I appreciate is that Apple doesn't treat me like a criminal when I am installing legally purchased version of their operating system. I reward that behaviour by doing the right thing and buying their operating system.
In contrast, I have lost track of the number of Microsoft products I have bought over the years. This includes two licenses of Windows XP Pro. I have become so sick of being treated like a pirate by Microsoft when installing LEGALLY PURCHASED SOFTWARE that I now just install the cracked versions.
So don't assume that just because someone says you CAN pirate software, it means that they are.
I use XPlornet in southwestern Ontario and they don't have any limits, other than their speed. I'm out in the country so can't get DSL or cable, and XPlornet has a 900MHz fixed wireless service here that I use. They're a GREAT ISP and I highly recommend them, although most DSL packages are faster.
I have a fixed IP address and they specifically told me there are no limits as to what I can do with my bandwidth. I can host web sites, run P2P, whatever. The only downside is that my actual bandwidth is usually around 1300/300kpbs.