The dark meat quest is extremely satisfying, but it'll backfire without the second technique.

Technique 2: Effusively complimenting the cook
Nothing reclassifies you from "rude, gluttonous pig" to "extremely polite, nice man" than complimenting the cook. A lot. In every way you can think of. You may have just practiced your body block technique on Uncle Bob, but if you turn to Aunt Alice and tell her how much you love her turkey, you'll get that welcome smile.

I'm serious about this. You can get away with nearly any marginally reprehensible behavior at a family gathering if you make sure to effusively say nice things to the cook.

I'm talking Jedi-level powerful stuff here. It's amazing. Used together, it's like you can walk through walls, turn lead into gold, and get all the dark meat you want.

Some computer stuff
Yes, this is Computing Unplugged Magazine and so I'm honor-bound to write something about computers. Fortunately, there is a bit to say. I felt, as a public service, that I'd pass along my Thanksgiving tips first. I hope they help make your Thanksgiving as good as mine.

Oh, and for my family members reading this article: stay away from the dark meat. It's mine!

Let's move on. Last week, I wrote a piece about moving your Palm data to a new machine. I got a couple of great responses, and it inspired James Booth to write an article that's also in this issue. Here are some other comments I got.

David Friedlander writes:

Your article fails to mention that it only applies to those who synchronize their data with the Palm Desktop. Those of us who used Pocket Mirror to synchronize our old Palms with Outlook have a completely different process to follow, made much more complex by the fact that new Tungstens come with the new Outlook synchronization instead of Pocket Mirror. I ended up getting rid of the new conduits and reinstalling Pocket Mirror so things would work the way they used to.

By the way, Sony Clie users switching back to Palm (or vice versa) have even more issues.

Keitha Redmond tells us:

How did you know I am about to treat myself to a new device for Christmas? So I read with interest your article on starting clean with a new Palm handheld.

My first device which I'm still using is an m505, although having had the unit replaced by Palm I'm somewhat familiar with the pitfalls of getting one's data onto a new handheld. I still wince at the memory. The big difference is I use Outlook as opposed to the Palm Desktop for Address, Datebook, Memopad and To Do's.

Any thoughts of a sister article for us Outlook users? Or does the fact that we're not replacing the PIM on our desktop at the same time make the whole concept redundant?

I shall grapple with that last question while I go back to pondering the wow factor of having a camera-equipped PDA versus sticking with a known brand where hopefully some accessories are compatible. Only 38 shopping days left until Christmas!

Thanks for a great publication -- when it's in my Inbox everything else waits while I savour it with my morning coffee.