You should be balancing your books at least once a month, so you should make downloading your history part of that. I'd also be wary of any third-party sites grabbing your info on your behalf... but I'm slightly paranoid about my data... I believe only I, and my bank, should have access to it.

The two most important points of having a "guard dog" are that it is:
1.> Heard
2.> Seen

Without those.. it is not a deterrent.

The training bit is not flawed... if a dog thinks IT is the alpha male.. it will try to subjugate you by any and all means. Dog owners always need to be seen as alpha.. if they aren't.. their dog WILL, without question, have behavioural issues.

It's been said several times already.. but a big, noisy dog. (preferably one who likes you, but is SLIGHTLY territorial.) but.. if you get a Dog.. you need to learn about pack mentality, and learn how to control the dog.. establish that you're the alpha male, and then make sure the dog is happy enough that he doesn't need to challenge alpha male's status. ;)

I know I will absolutely NOT tolerate having to view ads on a device that I have bought & paid for. To view content that someone has spent money developing..sure.. but if I've paid for the device, and I've paid for the O/S, ads will *NOT* be welcomed.. and it is something that would cause me to put Linux on my Macbook over.

If they are not insured & bonded (or are unwilling to show you proof that you can verify with their insurers) then you shouldn't be working with them. If they are willing to put up the cash for insurance and sureties that will PAY you if your IP or physical property for that matter, is compromised, devalued etc.. then you've got little to lose.

If your IP is so important to your company that the amount of their maximum insurance payout would NOT cover your losses, then you should be doing these items in-house instead of outsourcing them.

The French are actually very accommodating to English-speakers providing that the English-speakers TRY to speak French before resorting to English. The "if'n yoo mooves to umayrikuh yoo'z shud lerns da fuckin' lang-guij" crowd could certainly take some lessons from the French. I was there on holidays last year (That's vacation to a yank) I had no problems at all getting by with my high-school level French, aided by a good phrase-book application on my PDA, and the phrase, "Pardon, est-ce que tu parlez Anglais?"

I can attest to this, having migrated from the U.S. to the Republic of Ireland. The percentage of my vocabulary I have had to re-learn is definitely significant. Doing crossword puzzles from local newspapers in tandem with my native co-workers at lunch remains a huge help towards this end. After three years, there is still plenty of new/amended vocabulary for me to discover.

Wireless networks are amazingly, insanely easy to crack into with scripts widely available. It takes no more than a few minutes to gain access to ANY current wireless (802.11x) network whether it's using WEP,WPA, WPA2 etc.. etc.. etc.. If you want someone to be able to park outside your building & track every single thing that happens on your network, or you just don't care about your data, then fine.. switch to 100% wireless. BUT.. if your company, or you personally, have ANY data that you want to remain private (a cracker could get your user/password combos easily and rainbow-table the crap out of them in minutes if they have ANY access to your network.. including cracked wifi) then you should not be using WiFi AT ALL. Keep the wires.. keep your data! (not to mention networking performance.)

The old adage:

"Give a man a fish, feed him once; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime."

comes to mind.

Mr. Dvorak's comments are certainly short sighted, and as you pointed out it needn't be OR choice, it can be an AND.

I paid for two of the laptops.. one is going to my Sister's two youngest children, the other will hopefully help some village somewhere end up with irrigated fields, a well for clean water, and others things I am fortunate enough to be able to take for granted.

Giving them nothing but food just leaves them sitting in the same squalor with no real chance of improving their situation.

I know a man who has started a charity dedicated to a single town somewhere in Africa. Money & volunteers head down there twice a year. This year they have drilled a well and built a school. These were projects undertaken WITH the people of the village, so they can become self-supporting, and understand how they were done.

If John Dvorak really wants to make a difference in Africa.. maybe he can go help teach kids at the school for a month or two!