Oftentimes it doesn't even do that. An insurance check can't replace your family herilooms at any price.

An alarm won't stop a quick smash-n-grab, but it will limit the amount of time that the criminal can spend in your residence pilfering your stuff. With a proper alarm and TL-30 rated safe, it's very unlikely that someone will walk out with the family jewels before the police arrive.

That said, an alarm and a good safe are not cheap. Whether it's worth it depends on your risk and how many "priceless" items you would protect.

To the OP's point, an alarm will add some degree of safety for your family. It's preferable to having a door or window open quietly in the middle of the night.

My home was burglarized years ago, and while I've never been able to replace what was taken, I am most thankful that none of my family was at home when the break-in occurred.

It is possible to honestly offer "unlimited" data at N megabits per second, and that is how they market it today.

Google tells me there are, on average, 2629743.83 seconds in a month. If I'm buying "unlimited" 20 megabits per second service from my ISP, I can transfer approximately 321 gigabytes per month if I am constantly downloading at the maximum rate that we have mutually agreed upon.

I see your point, though: the lie is that you cannot really run your connection flat out without running afoul of the fine print. See Comcast's 250GB cap on their "unlimited" service, for example.

Which would you rather have?

A) 20 mbit/second "unlimited" service as described above: use it as often as you like during the month, and don't worry about your bill changing from month to month; the cap is effectively set by the 20 mbit/second data rate.

B) 100 mbit/second with a 321GB monthly cap; when you blow through the cap, you will likely pay through the nose for each extra megabit consumed.

C) Flat rate, metered, pay per megabit transferred. Perhaps with tiered pricing as practiced by some power companies.

E) Some other option?

When the big boys dump their stock after hours, who is taking the other side of the trades?

"My fridge is smarter than your honor student."

This is an important lesson for some of us geeks. We would like to think that the best technology will always win on its own merits, but the reality is that products are often selected for other reasons.

For the uninitiated: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6422425

Ars Technica has for years discouraged its users from running ad blockers. They need the revenue; I get that. However, since Ars was acquired by Conde Nast, the ads have become significantly more intrusive and annoying.

Ryan's spot on... the best pizzas are made at home if you take the time to do it right.

You can also make them on the grill. I feel like a god when I follow the instructions in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Grilled-Pizzas-Piadinas-Craig-Priebe/dp/0756636795

I've no association with the author; I just think it's easy to follow and get great results. Of the hundreds of cookbooks that line my shelves, this is my favorite.