Mr. Clint, I'm not trying to chase you off, just try to make you understand your ability to crank out food comparatively easy for 365 days a year is a direct function of where you live, not from colossal cultural practices. Yes there are some tried and true methods of agriculture that have been around for ages that continue to be practiced and help in the struggle - crop rotation, trashy cultivation, trap crops, etc. But keep in mind none of the "natural" methods was rarely ever the sole means for protecting crops under Midwest conditions. Along with all that timeless advice, it was not uncommon for lead arsenate, Paris green, and other nasty things to be used to protect food crops. All I'm saying is here growing food is more of a battle and aged agricultural principles, although they may help, won't take care of the problem. Heck, last summer an orchard near here lost 100% of its apple crop due to fungus (black rot I believe). Seriously, I'm on their email list (as part of the Kansas Fruit Growers) and they sent an email indicating they canceled all sales. It is more of a battle to grow food here. Farmers around here have experienced it. Dare I mention it, but even the "evil" chemical companies market their crop protectants accordingly (Warrior, Pounce, Ambush, Assail, Stinger, etc.) I'm sure you'll argue the chemical companies are just doing that to keep the war mentality going, but I disagree. They are appealing to experiences that are already there (i.e. losing a whole apple crop to fungus) That growing food here is more challenging doesn't automatically make it unenjoyable. Perhaps an analogy would be rock climbing. It can be very difficult along the way, but can also be rewarding if successful.

Ok, a more serious response from me. I think anything that is more rare or more specialized means that yes, the potential for problem is greater. Some examples: that amazing fancy huge geode slice that you're using for a counter is something that your average fabricator is unfamiliar with (and it's something that even the $$$ specialized fabricator sees infrequently), your highend high BTU range requires a different gas set up and a dedicated outlet (despite the fact that the only electrical parts are the light and fan) and your GC has installed a zillion ranges, doesn't need to know this info, disregards the instructions and the gas line is in the wrong place; your european faucet renders your home warranty guarantee on water pressure void because it uses non-standard fittings, etc. Most of these have actually happened to me (no, I don't have a geode countertop!) so I do think that the non-run of the mill items that we choose (which can tend to be expensive and rare) can cause more headaches. People just tend to have less experience with these materials and sometimes these rarer and more expensive items are such because of their difficulty to install, come by, etc. I think ways to counteract these possible pitfalls are to be as knowledgeable as possible by reading and researching, to be on top of your contractors and choose them based on their reputation checking references and using yelp, angie's list, etc. (esp. if acting as your own GC), to communicate that you want to be involved in decision making, to make sure you understand your contracts and to have money set aside for when such issues arise. (And maybe also realize that there will be compromises, that your favorite item might be discontinued, that people are human and make mistakes and that your newly sprouted gray hairs make you look more distinguished!) This post was edited by browneyes776 on Thu, Jan 16, 14 at 16:12

Hi folks -- Yes, we've been a spam magnet the last few days! What mimi is talking about are the posts, that spambots will drop in mass quantities onto the forums. Lately, they are in a foreign language or they are advertising astrology or love spells. We try and block them via IP addresses and other filters, but sometimes they still manage to slip through our Spidey webs. If you see them, just click on the flag in the top corner of the post and I'll delete them asap. Sushipup has been a major spam assassin this week and has probably worn out that little flag. Thanks, Sushi!

There are 3 management ills released by this change: 1. Apparently, a person unqualified for IT work made the decision to go with the lower cost application. That sounds very much like purchasing making a co-called cost reduction so they can put this on their list of accomplishments. A new, very important, untried application was not tried out before unleashing it system wide. A dummy account should have been created in the "sandbox" region of the server and the application tried there for a period of time. Many of the ills you mentioned should have shown up in the sandbox version and would have been contained. This would have given the system operators a chance either correct the software or reject it. Somehow, the system's virus checker was disabled or uninstalled. The SANDBOX: Many years ago, makers of large servers included a "sandbox" in their operating system. This is a feature that carves off a section of memory, and isolates it from the remainder of the computer. When accessed from outside the installation, it appears like a complete system. Its a place to experiment and give neophytes a place to roam. Any damage done is confined to the sandbox. Also, the system operators can use the sandbox to test to see if their corporate system is under attack by intruders, by lowering the protection on the sandbox and then watching for what comes in.