Everything Great is *Nixbased

Cybersquatting is a topic which recently came up on Slashdot in the form of an Ask Slashdot article “Buying a Domain From a Cybersquatter“. The writer of the original topic mentions that:

“since we don’t own a trademark on this name it doesn’t qualify as bad faith”

This in it’s self means legally they are not a cybersquatter. Using the term cybersquatter to describe someone whom has legally purchased a domain name which does not infringe on a trademark is a large deviation from it’s actual meaning and should be avoided. Let’s think about this for a moment; squatter as defined on http://dictionary.reference.com/ in this scenario means

“a person who settles on land or occupies property without title, right, or payment of rent.”

Prefixing cyber to squatting changes the meaning slightly as it then deals with occupying a domain name without rights to the trademarked content (the name). Never was “cybersquatting” meant to apply to non-trademarked names. How can someone “settle on or occupy property, esp. otherwise unoccupied property, without any title, right, or payment of rent.” if the domain name is not trademarked or otherwise owned by anyone when they paid the fees for that domain?

Note; domain tasting is a whole other issue.

Think I’m wrong? Do your research, the term was coined in the early days of the Internet and was never intended to be used in the generic way which some people are now using it. Another term “parkhole” fits the scenario mentioned in the article much better.

Slashdot is comprised of technical people yet the comments by these people also incorrectly use the word. Sometimes it really is amazing that some people don’t know what specific terminology means in their own area of expertise. An example of not having a proper level of understanding is this comment by Overzeetop. The fact that this comment is marked as insightful pretty much proves my point about the mass of ill informed and/or illogical people. This isn’t to say that everyone on Slashdot lacks an understanding of the word, some people such as noundi understand the meaning perfectly based on his/her commentary located here.

The other issue I have noticed is the assumptions about domain resellers in general, again I will use the original article mentioned above as an example but this isn’t a Slashdot only issue. Even though tasting is another issue all together as mentioned, in this comment the commenter says:

“in most cases, these idiots haven’t even purchased the domain names”

This commenter is stating that the domain resellers are all idiots and then mentions that “most’ of them are tasting, but he does call them all “idiots” which to me is a pretty wild and inaccurate assumption. With a similar demeaor but possibly less tact hyades1 says in this comment that:

“Offering these scumbags money just teaches them that they’re on the right track. If you’ve got money to burn, why not throw a little at some of the many groups that are trying to outlaw this practice?“

First off nobody is trying to outlaw buying and reselling domains as far as I know and secondly why the assumption that someone not breaking the law is scum? It’s a supply and demand thing, the domain name is unique, if you want that domain over the ones available for lower prices you will need to pay more. Nothing is scummy about someone buying a domain before you ever wanted it and than selling it to you for more than they paid for it. People buy and resell things all the time, a great example are Ebay sellers. These people often buy an item on Ebay and later resell it for more than they paid for it, is this a scumbag thing to do? If so why? It is the basis of commerce, a company sells it’s products for more than they paid to acquire said products.

If people started thinking before stating opinions much more time would be spent on the improvement of everything from the economy to the environment and less time would be spent trying to find ways to screw those people whom they feel are screwing them. I’m not a domain reseller or anything of that nature so this is just my opinion based on two parts logic and four parts research.

As we all know the Terms of Service (ToS) and Terms of Use agreement has become commonplace on websites as a means to govern the way these sites are to be used and the rights to user submitted content are to be handled. From the small forum based websites receiving traffic in the range of 10-20 unique visitors per day to the large social media sites serving millions of visitors in the same period of time one often overlooked similarity is almost guaranteed to exist, the all too often gigantic legal monster known as the Terms of Service agreement. These agreements are, much like End User License Agreements (EULA) skipped by the majority of visitors even if a mechanism is in place to try and encourage the visitor to read them. With headlines in recent history involving ToS terms however it may be in the visitors best interest to read these agreements and see for themselves the lengths some websites will go to when trying to impose terms and conditions upon their users. These terms and conditions are often largely overstepping the boundaries of common sense and sometimes go as far as to violate the rights and freedoms of the user, this is especially common where the terms within the agreement are pertaining to user submitted information and content.

From the age requirements in Google’s ToS as pointed out here, the issue over their Chrome browsers ELUA here and the uprising over the Google Maps API ToS here one would think that large corporations would think twice before changing their Terms of Service or End User License Agreements but apparently the social media giant Facebook didn’t get the hint, as seen here.

Google has always been quick to fix their ToS agreements and EULAs when under pressure from the masses but Facebook and other sites seem to do just enough to fool a large percentage of their userbases into thinking the issue has been resolved. Lets not take their rebuttals at face value and keep in mind the possibility that they may just be cash generating machines with possible ethical and moral issues, with that in mind we can move on to the reality, legality and understanding of Terms of Service agreements.

The first thing to to keep in mind is that everyone needs to read the ToS of a site before using it, I know the scroll ‘n click without reading method is popular but it may some day land you in hot water if you continue to use said method. Terms of Service agreements are often thought of as fragile in a legal sense and because of such many technologically gifted internet users believe that they can bypass reading them due to the fact that they didn’t physically sign anything to state they agree. The problem with such mentality is that in a legal sense in most countries and jurisdictions by using the site it is assumed that you agree to the terms governing that use, it is up to you as the user to read and understand them. This is often the case whether the agreement is a clickwrap type or a page requiring no actual interaction to bypass.

Their are instances however when clauses in a Terms of Service contract are not legally binding, this does not automatically mean all clauses in the ToS are void and can be broken but it can mean that a possible action against a user could be proven illegal in a court of law depending on what clause the justification for said action fell under. An example of such a ToS agreement made news around the web in 2006/2007 when Marc Bragg sued virtual reality giant Linden Research and eventually settled out of court. Though this did not set a legal precedent it did show that when a ToS is a contract of adhesion it is not legally binding. One must remember that contract law is contract law no matter if it is online or off. If an online contract imposes terms which would not be legal in a paper contract than they won’t be legal in one online, this extends to your rights as a human being and your rights to possessions (rights to data are iffy at best so you better hope you get the right judge).

The biggest issue with most ToS agreements is that they are overly lengthy and fraught with legal jargon not to mention the use of repetition within which I personally believe shows that these legal departments have the view that mere mortal website visitors could not possibly understand a ToS clause and must be treated like children. The use of this jargon along with the aforementioned length and repitition is often employed to create an element of confusion and even encourage the reader to skip over the agreement and just click the “I agree” button. For that reason it is recommended that you look up any terms in the contract you do not understand just as you would with a paper contract before signing it. One way around some sites terms of service is to license pictures and other content to someone else before making it available on a website, however some online agreements safeguard against this by disallowing such content to be posted within their website. Remember when you do not agree to the terms of any contract it is best just to walk away, by not using a specific website you probably aren’t losing out on much but by agreeing to a strict Terms of Service agreement you do not plan to follow you may be opening yourself up to future legal recourse and a high level of financial loss. I am not a lawyer but this is how I see it based on past cases and a great deal of research.

Conclusion? Read every ToS agreement before using a website because you never know just how far someone may go to defend it. The web isn’t quite the wild west some people seem to think, your actions can land you in a courtroom.

It amazes me the amount of people who still use Godaddy as their shared hosting provider. They never were a great host, they have always oversold and had lackluster customer service but lately things have been getting even worse. I have had and currently have several clients on Godaddy’s shared hosting service and each and every one of them have had problems, now I know the odd problem is to be expected with any host but lately these problems have been more frequent.

As part of my service for my customers I am often the one to call Godaddy’s “tech support” on their behalf to notify them of a problem or to find out what is going on with that problem. My experience with the tech support has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. From claiming they have no experience with phpMyAdmin (a simple test question I posed after getting the distinct feeling that the person on the other end of the line was inexperienced and not qualified to be in a tech support roll at any company) to telling me “They are working on the problem, if I knew what it was I’d be back there helping”, these people are under qualified and ignorant, all that is needed in such a position is to have a little tech knowledge, speak clearly and be polite which seems beyond them in my experience. The willingness to help also depends on which representative you get, something as simple as importing a database which is too large to import via phpMyAdmin (due to their own settings) can be painless with one person but denied by another. The first person may tell you to upload the dump via FTP and call back where as the person you speak with when you call back may tell you that they are not allowed or are unable to do it. It is just plain old horrible tech support and lack of uniform training as well as policy….but Godaddy does get points for not outsourcing that department to India.

The plans are also not competitive on the shared hosting front when you compare them to Host Gator or Surpass Hosting. They offer somewhat similar pricing to Surpass although only allow one site to be hosted, limited space and bandwidth as well as lack of shell access etc. It really isn’t a great deal which is odd considering their size.

I did at one point have a Godaddy Virtual Dedicated Server running CentOS, to put it bluntly, it was WAY over sold and memory is not as advertised, even when the server was using much less than the amount guaranteed (256MB guaranteed, 1 GB bursted) running a backup would tell me it failed due to lack of free memory available. This issue was reported, noted as a problem but never resolved as at the end of my 12 months of service during final backups the issue persisted. The default hosting control panel is also rather clunky and uses illogical placement of links and such but going on about that could probably do my head in all on its own. The bottom line is: AVOID GODADDY HOSTING.

I used to host everything on my own home servers but I have since grown the sites too large to continue to do so. Due to said growth I have moved pretty much everything over to SurpassHosting which gives rather great package deals if you sign up with them on a long term basis. So far the Surpass tech support has been much better than Godaddy’s although not perfect, they at least attempt to help and explain themselves well. I have yet to see any downtime and the speed of the service seems adequate. This is quality hosting at economical cost. To be fair I have heard horror stories about pretty much every host whom has become large enough to be worth talking about so I can only speak from personal experience but I do know Surpass was highly recommended to me (it was 1st recommended I use them in 2004 but had no reason to at the time), where as Godaddy is not often recommended by anyone whom knows what they are talking about. In my personal opinion, if you want domains Godaddy is a fine choice, if you want hosting choose a company like Surpass Hosing instead.

Last New Year’s Eve I posted my resolutions on this blog. I guess it’s time to review those resolutions and see just how little (or how much) I followed through. Last year’s resolutions were as follows (Pass or Fail)

• Focus on the end result of what I am trying to do. Pass

I did really well with focus, though most of my projects were put on the back burner that is a positive step in focusing more on the projects that can be successful.

• Get in shape. FAIL

Like most people whom made this resolution I failed. I have thought about it a great deal and do plan to do something about it, I just didn’t make it a main focus. This is rather upsetting and I need to fix it.

• Advertise and make the sales. FAIL
  

I’m counting this as a fail even though I followed through on part of it. I have done a large amount of studying on marketing and quite enjoy the approch of experts like Seth Godin but I didn’t put into practice what I learned.

• Hold myself to a higher standard. PASS

In everything I have been doing including day to day activities I have been holding myself to a higher standard, even though I have failed some of last years resolutions, the things I have done have been top quality and the things I have not done I am not letting go of so easily.

• Get rid of all the unneeded material possessions. PASS

I have rid myself of a great deal of materiel possessions. The computer graveyard has been stripped down and organized and everything I own I have used in the last 6 months. The task as outlined was completed but I am still finding that I do not have enough room in my house. This year I just may have to look more at organization and making due without some of the items I only use on occasion to make room for others which are necessities.

2008 in review

It feels like 2008 was one of the worst years I have experienced thus far in my life.I became a single father, had even more trouble after that in the relationship department and did not do well financially. I did learn who my real friends are no matter how far they may live from me, when the chips fell all I needed to do was see who was there to lend an ear when I needed it. Thanks to those who were, Tim, Karen….really you two made a huge difference and if I can ever help with anything don’t hesitate to ask. Of course upsides exist within these negatives and thinking in a negative manner will not further my improvement in any area. I’m still here and still kickin’ which means it’s time to make some changes
in 2009.

Resolutions for 2009!

• Get in shape

This one mirrors the goal set last year but has moved up the ranks to become #1. I failed last year but I am not going to fail again.

• Do something with The Rack.

This month my reptile forum “The Rack” will have been around for a year. It has been slow and the co-founder has lost interest in being online let alone helping to keep the site up and running. This year assuming I get the domain name transferred in time, I would like to make something happen with it. I am currently working on an upgrade of a friends site TeguTalk.com and have noticed its growth since October 2007. It averages over 70 posts a day currently and I really want to see that on The Rack. It has potential I just need to tap into it.

• Launch the PC business I have been focusing on and bring it to a point of profit by the end of 2009

I’m almost ready to launch and not much more can be said about this goal, maybe I can use some of those advertising tips I learned in 2008.

• Get organized

I need to look more at organization and scheduling in my life. Implementing more parts of the GTD method maybe part of doing this but the end result is simply to get more organized to produce more space and become more productive.

• Find the right path

Plain and simple I need to get my life together with a clear direction. This maybe via further education, more networking with others, a combination of both or some other factor I have not quite found yet but it needs to happen this year. Without direction I can’t really know where I am headed.

So Welcome 2009, this year will be better than the last.

Xmas is almost here, I’m not sure how I feel about the holidays this year to be honest. I’ve always despised the commercialization and as an agnostic atheist, like many others just see this time of year as a time to spend with family and friends. Even theists tend to celebrate in that manner often surcoming to the commercialization and forgetting what it is supposed to mean within their religion, mainly I’m speaking of mainly Christians here). I think most people know by now that the origins of Christmas are debatable with some saying that it is a celebration of the birth of the Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ) and others saying it is of pagan origins dating back to Winter Solstice. No matter who’s right or wrong it can be used as a time to set aside differences and have a good time, no need for expensive gifts or religion unless that is what you truly wish for.

I don’t usually buy gifts on holidays, I prefer to give them throughout the year when I see something that reminds me of someone I care about or something I feel they would enjoy, however this year I have a little bit of extra money so I decided I would buy those closest to me each a gift. I had forgotten just how hard it is to buy for my family. Most of them buy things they want themselves and others only want items that cost an arm and a leg. It also reminded me why I don’t enjoy the material expectations of Christmas.

It does not make sense to go into debt as so many do over a holiday. People often try to give their children many gifts to ensure a great Christmas but really to do so all they need to do is make it enjoyable as they probably will not remember which gifts they were given by the time next Christmas rolls around. In my humble opinion it is imperative that we as parents instill generosity and other positive characteristics in our children instead of encouraging materialism as Christmas time often does  for many. I am not implying to give no gifts at all, but no need exists to spoil them just because it is customary. One option is to cut out specific items from catalogs and store fliers and paste them into a book to create a catalog they can choose two or three items from which will not be beyond your budget. I would also encourage them to choose an item to give someone else to ensure generosity becomes something they associate with this time of year.

Another great option for gift giving could be to make a donation to a local charity in someones name whom you wish to give a gift. Doing so is both beneficial to someone and not detrimental to your finances as you can specify how much to give. It is also usually much appreciated by the person who’s name you make the donation in.

In closing I hope this post sparks the thought processes of you my readers and hopefully reminds you that this time of year does not need to be about the amount you give or get. It is about the time spent with friends and family and the memories made.

Like most men I enjoy an escape to the hardware store every now and again but sometimes all I need is to do some price comparisons of products on a materials list, in which case checking prices online via the websites of local hardware stores is the easiest option…..at least that’s what I had thought.

Little did I know that even when it asks for your Postal Code on Home Hardware’s website and shows you the closest retail outlet it does not show the pricing information for that outlet. When visiting without an account or not signed into an account you are presented with a text box and the following statement “Type in your postal code to connect with your neighbourhood Home store.“ (did anyone else notice the spelling error there? Well that’s what it says). When registering an account on the website a section appears stating the following:

“The selection of “Your Local Store” means we can deliver accurate store-specific information. Your postal code tells us the closest store store is: “ followed by the closest location. One would think by “ accurate store-specific information” and “ connect with your neighbourhood Home store” they would mean accurate local pricing as you can not buy the products online directly from the site. This however is not the case according to the owner of my local Home Hardware location whom claims prices are different based on region and will not be reflected on the website. At that point one must wonder a few simple questions as follows:

• Where do the listed prices come from and how do I buy the products at those prices?
• How do I take advantage of listed sale prices?
• Why isn’t the site listing prices of items for my local store if the price fluctuates by region as the local store owner suggests?
• Why isn’t the fact that prices on the website won’t reflect the pricing in your local store made known?

To add insult to injury the Technical Support page on the website says the following:

“You see, all 1,000 Home Hardware, Home Building Centre, Home Hardware Building Centre and Home Furniture dealers are independent Canadian storeowners who, collectively, own the company. So when you speak with your local Home dealer, you’re not only talking to the store owner, you’re talking to the owner of the company! “

“independent Canadian storeowners” leads me to believe that a store owner is able to set their own pricing but it does not explain the reason for price listings on the website including sale pricing (obviously) or why local store prices aren’t the ones listed.

Something seems fishy here so I have taken the liberty of emailing the www.homehardware.com webmaster for some answers and will post an update when I receive a response.

Update 03/12/08 I have received no response after multiple emails to the technical contact, so much for customer service.

Two other chain stores exist in my area for building materials and supplies. They are Rona and Home Depot. I haven’t done as much research into the prices at these outlets versus those shown online but I do know both Rona and Home Depot allow most of the products shown on their websites to be purchased through their online stores, this means that even if the pricing in local Rona and Home Depot stores does not match that of their online catalogs, it isn’t near as much of an issue as it is with Home Hardware.

I would like to know if anyone else noticed this and/or has been to Rona or Home Depot to check if a online price difference exists at these stores.

On September 8, 2008 the world lost a great human being. The body of former UFC Middleweight and USWF Heavyweight champion Evan Tanner was discovered by a Marine helicopter in the desert-like region north of Brawley, California. According to the Imperial County sheriff’s office heat exposure was the preliminary cause of death due to temperatures that day reaching 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48C). According to www.military.com Tanner called his manager that afternoon to say that his bike had run out of gas, and that he would accordingly walk back to his camp at nightfall when the temperatures would be much lower.

This isn’t just a loss to the MMA world, it is a loss to everyone. Evan was a stand up guy that pretty much everyone liked. One of the few whom stayed a down to earth person even in the spotlight. He was an underrated fighter and sometimes seen differently than others when he didn’t fit into the confines of societies rules but whether you remember him as this guy:

Or this guy:

He will be remembered, he will be missed.

Tanner always had a way with words. He spoke with passion and kindness even in the face of adversity. From upcoming wars of will in the cage to possible battles with depression he always had something to say, even if it was a little “out there” to some. He lived life, many people forget just what that means.

Evan wasn’t your typical fighter, his reason for fighting wasn’t the money or the fame, he wanted to be heard. If you want to learn something, to take something with you from his life and let him be heard….just watch these two videos:

On Youtube you an find tribute video after tribute video, his death has hit MMA fans hard all around the world. The odd keyboard warrior such as cardicianman in the comments on this video do pop up but overall those of us who love this sport understand the gap that is left by Evan’s death. I do however wonder why these wanna-be keyboard warriors say the things they do, as if they are somehow better than former champions and all around nice guys.

I just hope Mr. Tanner is now at peace, you will be missed brother.

As many of you have probably been reading Google has released a web browser called “Chrome”. It first caught my attention due to the innovative way in which Google accidentally announced the launch on September 1st, via a comic book illustrated by Scott McCloud and designed to show the positive features and architecture of their new product. The 38-page comic landed in the mailboxes of a few Europeans due to a “mailroom error”, was scanned and then uploaded to the unofficial Google blog Google Blogoscoped for all to see. As if a browser by Google wasn’t enough to get people talking, using a new approach like a comic book to make product announcements and explain it’s features is great for visibility in the blogosphere. Google released a blog entry later the same day confirming that “Chrome” was not a hoax and in fact would be released on September 2nd.

The browser which can be downloaded from Google’s Chrome page, is based on the open source web browser engine WebKit, the same browser engine that Safari uses. It is a browser truly fashioned with the Google mindset as it is light weight, using a smaller memory footprint than both Firefox and Internet Explorer (this can be compared by typing “about:memory” into the address/search bar)  and is very clean  from a user interface perspective.

The install process is straightforward with almost no need for user intervention, only needing the user to to close their current web browser so it can import bookmarks and passwords which is an inspiration to other developers when it comes to install processes, not to mention it lends it’s self well to those whom are new to computers.

The only thing I am REALLY missing with Chrome is the Add-ons and Greasemonkey scripts I have become so accustomed to in Firefox, well that and the fact it doesn’t have a Linux or Mac version. It is however much better than IE 8. All and all considering it has only been out less than 24-hours I think Chrome has an amazing shot at consuming a large part of the web browser market if the ability to use add-ons is incorporated. To see a more in depth (and informative) first look at chrome visit the Lifehacker entry titled Google Chrome First Look.

Every living organism needs a source of food (energy). For some organisms it may be cellulose, lignin, or another chemical compound but we as humans see our energy sources as so much more than groups of chemically bonded elements at fixed masses. We use food as not only an energy source but as a social tool, a personal comfort, and sometimes even a reason for living. These things and others make the way cuisine is viewed by our species unique and should, at least in theory, put a large amount of importance on the quality of ingredients offered at our local supermarkets. It should also put a great deal of importance on each persons ability to take great ingredients and in turn produce a few great, but fairly unique meals. The problem is, neither of these issues seem to receive such importance.

Side note: If using food as a reason for living seems odd, I recommend reading about Bernard Loiseau.

In the past on this blog I have touched on the way a massive amount of the population is eating (see: Fast Food, Fast Death) but more recently I have been paying more attention to an issue or two which run even deeper than bad choices on the part of an obese populous. The food sold in the supermarkets today is over preserved, lacking nutrients, generally processed and often overpriced, to add to that men and women alike are often no longer taught how to prepare a great tasting and nutritionally balanced meal, nor do they often take it upon themselves to learn such skills.

Food Quality

In Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly he reveals tales of pre-packaged food’s only in need of some heating being served in restaurants and old, decaying food items from previous meals being used to prepare meals for brunch specials just to save on the bottom line. It seems the supermarket isn’t much different. Everything is genetically modified, produced for mass consumption, preserved for days of travel with even more preservatives added for extended shelf life, boxed in fancy packaging with misleading pictures on the front and sold for a gross markup above and beyond anything reasonable. What tops it off is that they use so much salt and are so afraid of real natural flavors that everything either tastes like sodium or is bland to suit the generally underdeveloped pallet of western civilization, this “food” tastes like shit and isn’t much better for us nutritionally speaking.

We do have the choice to eat organic, but what “organic” really means depends on the country you are purchasing the items in. In Canada come December 14th, 2008 according to http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/orgbio/stainte.shtml:

• Only products with organic content that is greater than 95% may be labeled as: “Organic” or with the Canada Organic Logo and/or the designations “Canada Organic” and “Biologique Canada”.
• Multi-ingredient products with 70-95% organic content may have the declaration: “% organic products.” These products may not use the Canada Organic Logo and/or the designations “Canada Organic” and “Biologique Canada”.
• Multi-ingredient products with less than 70% organic content may only contain organic claims in the product’s ingredient list. These products may not use the Canada Organic Logo and/or the designations “Canada Organic” and “Biologique Canada”

In the USA the USDA has implemented standards which include four different labels for organic items. The “100% Organic” label means it is a single ingredient item which is totally organic but can still contain added salts, the “Organic” label is for multiple ingredient foods which are 95 to 100% organic and “Made with organic ingredients” means 70% of the ingredients are organic. The last label is “Contains organic ingredients “ and can be applied when the items ingredients are less than 70% organic. The laws on what can be added to the product before it hits shelves and the practices which are allowed in organic farming seem to be slightly unclear and ever-changing. Another point of confusion is that there are different certifying agents accredited by the USDA and CFIA, agents such as the CCOF use more restrictive standards than some others and it is possible to buy items which are both CCOF and USDA certified in the USA. Though organically grown items and organically raised livestock do seem to be the proper way to go to avoid ingesting chemicals we do not need nor want in our bodies it isn’t an easy switch. Organic food also means higher food costs due to lower yield, more regulation on animals per acre etc. Many lower income households can not afford a price increase on basic necessities, making the option to eat all organically produced foods one left to those more fortunate.

Another increasingly popular option is to buy locally produced food items. This is one that everyone can afford, it is often both more cost effective and a healthier option then the items offered at the large scale grocer. Organic or not, buying local means not only less preservatives being used on your food but supporting the local economy and small farmer. Less preservatives means fresher food, which in turn means more nutritional and better tasting ingredients.

Time to Cook

Now that I have touched on quality of ingredients the second issue comes into play. Everybody needs to know the basics of food preparation and cooking. It really does not take much to prepare a meal that others will enjoy, converse over and possibly even compliment you on. It is common to hear people say they can’t cook, that they mainly eat out or let their other half do the cooking. I don’t really get why. If food is so important and can spark such emotional ties then everyone should be taught at least the basics, we aren’t talking professional chef level cooking here after all.

Like most other things anyone can learn to cook by reading some books, in this case cook books or  web sites and practicing technique as well as different combinations of ingredients. The first step however is the right equipment. It doesn’t take much and you can acquire things over time as you need them, for example you probably won’t need a clay cooker or automatic meat slicer when cooking basic meals and learning what works best, remember the K.I.S.S principle.

What You Will Need

Though it really depends on the type of food you are planning to cook some basics are mandatory:

• 1 chefs knife, as big as you can handle
• 1 boning knife
• 1 pairing knife
• 2 sauce pans, a 1qt and a 3qt
• 2 skillets, a 8 inch and a 12 inch with a lid
• 1 large saute pan
• 1 roasting pan
• 1 stock pot, go large anything over 8qt
• 1 Wok
• various sizes and shapes of baking dishes
• 1 baking sheet
• 1 mixing bowl set
• 1 dry measuring cup set
• 1 liquid measuring cup set
• 1 measuring spoon set
• 2 spatulas
• strainers
• wooden spoons
• standing grater
• slotted spoons

You will also need a few other utensils depending on what you are cooking, but those are the basics in my opinion. To each person this can differ.

When it comes to pots and pans I prefer cast iron where as others prefer stainless steel or copper. However with cast iron be sure to season it correctly before use. As for baking dishes the two best choices are often glass or stone but it can depend on the dish being made. Knives are a whole other beast and one where personal preference is biggest. Japanese and German knives are the most common when talking quality. A cheap set of knives just won’t do if you want to be precise, use less effort and be quick. Global, Misono, Wusthof, Henckels, and Kershaw’s Shun line are all reputable brands and others do exist but I recommend trying any knife before buying it, some manufacturers tend to make some styles of knife better then others depending on a persons preference. For sharpening purposes a few options exist but I do recommend sending them out to a professional to be sharpened. If you are  the adventurous type, doing some research and trying out the options available to you (on some cheaper knives to start) would be a good plan as many options exist from sets of wetstones and  sharpening stones which you use freehand to knife sharpening systems. A honing tool is also required but I will leave you to reading about that yourself. A great resource for knife sharpening information is Knife Maintenance and Sharpening.

Conclusion

Now that the needed tools have been covered it’s time to find some recipes and give it a shot. As mentioned pretty much anything about cooking can be found online and in cook books. Just use Google and don’t be afraid to try new techniques and ingredients. With some experience you will be cooking great meals in no time at all. If you can’t make time to learn this new skill it may be a good idea to examine what you are spending your time doing. Cooking is a life skill, watching T.V, doing extra work to impress the boss or playing that new gaming console is not.

Since the dawn of time the way the beard has been viewed from civilization to civilization and time period to time period has differed. In ancient Greece it was a sign of virility, in ancient India a symbol of wisdom, and within the Germanic Lombard tribe it was a religious tribute to Odin. During the American Civil War Generals sported full beards more often then not and prominent political figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Alexander MacKenzie were unshaven during their time in office.

The beard was, at these times not only socially acceptable but often expected. It became a sign of manliness. However as time progressed and the media began to depict men as clean shaven the beard growing trend began to die. The long standing positive attributes associated with the bearded man gave way to the misconception that only the unhygienic and lazy members of the male gender were the only ones whom would grow prominent amounts of facial hair.

However the social stigma associated with growing a beard in the 1980’s and 90’s seems to have been lessening over the past couple years. The beard is becoming fashionable again as men are feeling the need to reclaim their masculinity in an overwhelmingly feminine culture. Everyone from professional models and stars to your everyday man are now trying their hands at growing beards in all shapes and forms.

Though psychological studies have suggested that a beard impacts negatively on how women see men as possible partners one must not discount the past when beards were popular and the existence of personal preference, some women like them and some do not. When psychologists conduct studies which generalize the emotions and interpretations of an entire gender it is time to wonder if the psychologists conducting such studies and psychology its self are any more credible then religious zealots preaching their misguided beliefs without concrete proof. In my opinion based on my experiences with the opposite sex as a bearded man, it is all about personal preference.

Though the bearded look does not suit every man and some men do not have the genetics to grow a great beard it it a very masculine ability and a great way to feel more manly without the risks which come with partaking in some other primal instincts and urges (think rape and pillage). If you can grow a great looking beard, can understand the basics of a proper neckline and don’t end up looking like a serial killer I say give it a shot and see how it goes. You maybe surprised by how great you look and the feeling it gives you.

If you don’t feel a full beard is best for you or that growing such would possibly end with your closest family and friends fondly calling you “patches” for years to come I recommend you check out this:

Keep in mind at first your beard will feel much more coarse then when it is grown out and any cutting does make the hair more blunt edged than not doing so. As the beard grows it becomes rather soft and will not give your significant other “beard rash”. A few sites do exist which feature communities of men whom are growing beards and these communities can often answer any questions you have on the subject. To find these communities a Google search should do the trick.

So if you are a man the time is now, try some styles and let me know, what style of facial hair is right for you?