Shortening the rope

I remembered all those stories where people buy a thing which claims itself to be unbreakable, waterproof, and so on, and so they immediately test that out by trying to break it or drown it, only to find out that the thing is then ruined, the manufacturer hasn't actually meant what they thought, and there's no warranty for such actions.

Aside from that, I also recalled a book Jon had referenced in some recent article, the "Unix-haters handbook". This very book had an extensive chapter on the article's topic, and I'd recommend checking it out for a fun read.