Aaah, this is really not a good beginner's guide to soldering! Cranking up to max temperature might work a lot of the time but runs the risk of frying ICs and causing PCB traces to come off. Also using a wet sponge can cause the tips to rust. It's much better to clean them with a brass "sponge" leaving the tip tinned to protect it. Finally the real key to easy soldering is solder flux (and leaded solder if you're allowed).
A bit of a detraction from the link but can anyone who's lived for a significant amount of time in both the UK and the US confirm that £100k is equivalent to $200k?
It seems fairly unlikely to me as UK tax and NI would be around 50% plus everything you purchase has 20% VAT. Sure medical insurance in the US is insane but surely that doesn't quite cover it.
I definitely appreciate that inflammatory articles might push us closer to war but it also seems rather dangerous to cover up anything that suggests war. That feels a bit reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain before WWII.