Evelyne L

Here's a situation that's probably best answered by a lawyer that understands digital distribution of games and software through mediums such as Steam.

The situation is this: I already had a copy of a game on Steam, purchased about a year ago: Portal (the first one). This game was launched originally as part of a bundle called The Orange Box which also included 4 other games.

A couple of days ago, I realized that The Orange Box bundle was on special, and I started the purchase process as I wanted to play the other 4 games. Considering I already owned Portal, I was expecting at first to get a second copy, which I could potentially send as a gift to a friend for them to play (and hopefully buy Portal 2 and play Co-Op later).

However, upon purchasing the item (before going through to payment), I was informed by the website that "since I already owned Portal, I would not get a second copy" (wording is from memory). I have opened a ticket with Valve (makers of both Steam and all games of The Orange Box) asking for the game to be added to my account. I have not yet received a response.

My thought is this: Because this is digital distribution (aka no physical copy of the game), Valve seems to believe that they have the right to simply remove the second copy from the bundle, simply because they can. If this were a box with actual DVDs of the games, I could simply take the Portal DVD and give it to a friend, but the digital distribution mechanism makes this a completely different world.

I understand the fact that I did, in fact, go through with the purchase and "agree" to forfeit my second copy, however I strongly believe that this is akin to theft, and would never happen with a physical distribution method.

Could anyone weigh in on this? Note that I am in Canada (Quebec), so I'm not sure if I could even place a complaint at the BBB or if I need to go through the Canadian equivalent (consumer protection I think).

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the Personal Finances section, but it's more related to food so here goes. Since me and my wife opened a joint account it's now a lot easier to manage the money that comes in and goes out and, using my favorite calendarbudget (dot com) tool, I've finally put in the right amounts for our monthly budget, meaning how much we should spend on each category. Most of it is fine - we're even putting around $1,250 each month towards debt repayment (credit cards and school loans) and not using the cards too much. However, one item strikes me as too high and I would like to see if I can get some "ammo" to reduce them (meaning, your opinion).

Currently, our average grocery costs are anywhere between $800 and $950 per month (NOT including eating out, this is only groceries!). $40 of that each week goes towards an organic fruits & veggies basked delivered to us directly, and our average weekly groceries is around $150. We're 2 adults in the house, we eat fairly healthy foods (rarely do we get any pre-made food, my wife's a great cook) and our 5-month-old daughter is breastfed but started on solids recently.

So, if we add the $100 average eating out costs we're left with monthly food costs, for 2 young adults that cook at home and eat out fairly rarely, that sometimes go up to $1000 or more. Am I crazy in thinking that is extremely high?

We started out baby on solid food a little earlier than recommended (at 4.5 months) because she was obviously ready for it and she has no problem eating. Of course, the amount that we give her is fairly small - one tablespoon of "powder" (or flakes?), which is rice cereal, twice a day. The problem is, that's not a lot when you consider the size of the box of cereals. It's organic rice cereals that do not contain any milk product (we mix it with breastmilk), but it still says that unused product should be thrown out after 30 days. My question is, why would it not be ok to feed her this food after 30 days? I'm just assuming that flake cereals wouldn't change if stored in a dry pantry in a sealed container. I've tried my best looking online but I only get stuff related to expiry date which is not the same thing.

Thanks in advance for your help! - A new daddy.

I was given an Amish Friendship Bread starter by a friend 10 days ago, and the bread turned out awesome today. Now that I'm all excited about it, I want to know if anyone knows similar "starter" recipes that can be made regularly from a "permanent" starter and shared with friends. I had a yogurt one in the past (which is much harder to make because of temperature considerations), does anyone know of others?

Hello everyone, I'm getting married this October, and I'm trying to help my fiance find a song that she could dance with her father at her wedding. There isn't one specific song she likes, but googling for father/daughter songs brings 99% of country or western songs, the rest being ridiculous. We live in Quebec, but everyone's fluent in both french and english, so it's not a problem.