I know I'm nitpicking here, but Doom didn't have online play at all (only modem and serial), and Quake wasn't really playable on the dialup connections of the time until QuakeWorld.

I agree entirely with what you're saying though. What I don't understand is why we can't have a hybrid system - have two multiplayer options, one for IWnet and one for the old client-server model. If you just want a quick blast online, you pick IWnet. If you want a clan match or just a bit more control over who and where you're playing, pick dedicated servers.

Then again, I'm pretty sure I know why they wouldn't bother with this - Infinity Ward and Activision knew from the beginning that any "boycott" over the lack of dedicated servers wouldn't happen, and even if it did, a fair chunk of their revenue probably comes from the consoles. PC gaming is becoming a niche market unfortunately, and it's making developers lazy because it's not as profitable as the consoles.

In regards to the amount of coverage, I'm fairly sure from memory that the minimum thickness of the concrete slab between beams in a raft construction is 100mm, according to Australian Standards (about 4 inches). He seems to have laid the copper pipe on the bottom of this slab, so I think he'll be right. It could have even been tied to the slab mesh without any real dramas. He lives in Tasmania, so it's pretty safe to assume temperatures will go below freezing during winter. However, air temperatures would have to be below zero for a significant amount of time (more than the couple of hours at most overnight during winter in low lying areas in Australia) for the pipes to freeze. Concrete (and the earth below it) won't heat up or cool down as quickly as the air outside.

I'm suddenly reminded of this: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/01/28/

You're assuming everyone has a "fast pipe".

Actually, I've just installed a recent build of Windows 7, which not only left my GRUB bootloader untouched, but also gives the option to resize partitions through the built in disk manager. It's the most dual boot friendly version of Windows I've ever used.

Greylisting.

http://www.greylisting.org/

My mail server uses that along with a trained CRM114 spam filter, and I get virtually no spam. Since most spam is sent from zombie machines, it will reject e-mail from unknown servers with a "try again later" response. Valid MTA's will re-send the message, but infected machines sending spam usually won't or can't re-send the message. Servers that DO re-send get 'greylisted' and their messages get through first time after that.

It's a little annoying having up to an hour or two delay on some e-mails, but if there's something I need urgently, I'll just get it sent to Gmail.

The problem though is that if the EFF didn't make a fuss of the small things, then companies such as Apple would realise that they'd be able to get away with eroding our rights in smaller, less "important" bites. I think much the same way of Greenpeace - they make a fuss of anything and everything, but if they didn't, they'd be much less effective at what they do. I usually hate environmentalists, but I respect the fact that Greenpeace gets things done.