On 7/26/07, Nate Duehr wrote: > > On Jul 25, 2007, at 4:56 AM, Russell McMahon wrote: > > > * Yes, I too would decline to support such an irresponsible user in > > almost any circumstance. Alas, this is the exceptional circumstance > > that one cannot easily avoid. > > Ever start to feel like this guy, Russel? That was, as the kids say these days, made of win. I think you might enjoy the Internet Help Desk video from Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie: http://www.deadtroll.com/video/helldeskcable.html Warning: Some profanity / "Colourful Metaphors" as Spock would say. Also, they have a video titled "Every OS Sucks": http://www.deadtroll.com/video/ossuckscable.html The kind of helping I've been sucked into a lot lately is helping my fellow students with their final year design projects. I gave advice on where to look for information and parts, which parts they should choose, where they might find some of the interfacing code already done so they could concentrate on their algorithms, etc. What was kind of interesting is that the more the people I helped knew on their own, the more grateful they seemed to be. Maybe it's that they've been in similar situations and know the toll of providing "free" help all too well themselves. All I know is, the guys who actually were able to finish their project (almost) to spec, were the ones who bought me the Guinness. The other end of the spectrum, of course, are the people who didn't take any of my advice, and were asking for help, a week from the deadline, trying to get an incomplete set of the wrong equipment to do the job. ("I need to know where to order robot parts from" "What, now? Isn't the thing due in a week and a half?"). These guys still passed, somehow. -- -Randy Glenn Computer Eng. and Mgt. Year V, McMaster University Regional Student Representative, IEEE Canada randy.glenn-at-gmail.com - glennrb-at-mcmaster.ca randy.glenn-at-computer.org - randy_glenn-at-ieee.org http://www.randyglenn.ca -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist