See I kinda disagree. I've had a cheapo station that worked fine for years, just had to learn to keep the tip tinned and dial it in right. Maybe it's just me but sometimes the expensive stuff is overkill if you're just doing basic hobby soldering now and then.

Seriously though, how often does that actually happen? Most of the time those old lines are still close enough for government work in my experience.

My friend faced a serious traffic violation a few years ago. He tried saving money with a general lawyer first, and the court dates kept getting postponed. Once he hired a lawyer who only handles criminal cases, they sorted everything out in two meetings. Having that expert attention really turned his situation around.

Used to think it was lame, now I'm all for it.

Seriously, it was a huge deal. Those books took forever to make by hand, which meant hardly anyone could get one. Brian Fox has a point about that science paper never getting out. When you think about how long it actually takes to do careful work like that by hand, it makes sense why new ideas spread so slow. It wasn't just about sore hands, it kept most people in the dark.