You never know what will change. Sure, continents will never change, but a good example is the possible change of North Dakota's name to just Dakota (Yes, this is a serious change that the state of ND is considering!).

Going along with this, I'd stick to creating a catagoryID index value, and sticking the catagories into their own table, with the products using the catagoryID in their table. Doing this now while the database is small will save headaches later when the database is large. Also, you'll have a much easier time of expanding the system later.

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Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain