@atariguy: I don't know a thing about raising cattle, but you raise some good points. Economic and weather conditions are good things to consider with respect to our food. Also, I love beef—thanks for your work.

Skip the rice and find a vacuum chamber :)

@emily002: I have often wondered about this tip and whether it's for real. If salt really could absorb the moisture at room temperatures, it would pull moisture from the air and spoil much faster. However, rice lasts a long time. I would love to see some Mythbusters-type action on this one.

@jacqueman: That's not exactly a controlled experiment either.

@jonny6pak: You sure? When I hit one key, hold it, and hit another, the second press is not recognized.

Interesting@Adam Pash: Interesting; I'll try it tomorrow and see what happens. I just got a bottle of some cheap stuff in a gift basket. In the past it never worked, but I will give it another go.

@Hoppes: I just want to add that if you have outside faucets for hoses, cut off the water to the faucets from within the house and then open faucet outside. This will ensure there is no leftover water ready to expand as ice and blow a pipe near a home's foundation.

@thinkerer: I was thinking about how Pam now uses use pure canola oil, which really won't work for a long session of shoveling. My thought was to use the really poor quality spray oils that contain silicone. However, your idea is far better. Nice tip.

@Ascentury: Good point. I'm no pro, but I wouldn't bother with EVOO at all, regardless of how cheap it is. The smoke point of EVOO is low enough to where it will burn easy in a saute pan. Grapeseed oil has a much higher smoke point and actually works well in the pan.

@d3c509b aka Steve: To be honest, I don't know with respect to this version. Compared to old versions, MM killed Songbird in terms of library management. I would investigate Songbird further, but the slowness was a signal to not bother—it's the one issue that made me hate the old versions.

I'm sticking with MediaMonkey. I see a few people already made this complaint, but far be it form me to avoid beating the crap out of a dead horse.... this app still moves slower than my grandma after she got the hip replacement.

@EndlessBliss: Assuming someone with more knowledge doesn't slam me with a "WRONG", check my reply to darthskillet's comment above. It should answer your question.

@IN THE FACE!: HA, put that one on a bumper sticker and you're rich.

@xxdesmus: In terms of MS, this wasn't huge. However, that patent is quite broad and could harm producers of any system that allows users to create custom XML structures separate from a document that utilizes the custom XML. In my industry, healthcare informatics, there are a lot of players with similar features. …

@NorwoodIsMyHero: That was pretty epic. I don't think I've seen any thread get so long on the Giz. He even started attacking people who didn't directly reply to any of his comments. Good times, good times.

I don't deal in patent law in the attorney side of my job, but in reading over this one, it seems MS got into this mess by touting the use of their custom XML in pharmaceutical systems (a wise move). i4i deals primarily in the pharma market, which MS was attacking. I don't agree with i4i's patent at all, the court…

@Phoshi: Yep, this is just a method for separating the document from the document structure. That could apply to a number of content software applications.

That's quite the starter.

Does this give the software keyboard mutlitouch? I don't think I can give up my GPS for pinch zoom features, but a multitouch keybaord would be nice. Not that I find much trouble with the current software keyboard.

@mfusion: That's awesome. I learned it by working in a kitchen under an old Italian man. He never knew what any of the techniques he gave me were called.