Steve’s Stuff

Robert X. Cringely looks at the utilization model behind Skype and estimates that no more than 900,000 people can be talking at one time. It’s not the six million or so connected users, but that’s pretty good, especially for free.

Of course, Cringely points out it’s not really free if you’re one of the supernodes. My computer was. Then I changed a few firewall rules and watched our network traffic drop.

Cringely, Skype

The Thermapen is an outright necessity for anyone cooking meat. This will let you deliver meat that is consistently right where want it to be. (Take beef off the heat at 125 and let it rest 15 minutes to hit medium rare, every time.) It’s expensive, but you won’t have to chow down on a raw hunk of something or smile your way through something best laced and worn for hiking.