good advice jack.
let me just ad my $0.02 if i may
my biggest rules for a table saw are as follows:
1. ALWAYS protect your eyes. this may seem so simple it doesn't need to be said, but someone told me this once.
"you can chew your food with false teeth, you can walk on a wooden leg, but you can't see out of a glass eye"
2. ALWAYS hold the piece FIRMLY, this will reduce the possibility of the blade ripping the piece from your hands and sending it someplace unintended.
3. ALWAYS let the BLADE do the cutting, if you feel yourself pushing too hard you are in imminent danger. if it starts to bind, back the piece out slowly ( remembering to hold the piece firmly ) and try again, better to mess up a cheap piece of wood than an irreplaceable body part.
4. when doing many repititious cuts one has a tendency to speed up over time, this is where accidents can occur. complacency or carelessness cause more injuries than inexperience.
5. if you are not comfortable performing a particular cut on the saw, find another way to do it, use a push bar, a push stick, featherboard, build a jig of some kind, etc. keep hands and fingers away from the blade at all times.
6. Remember, nobody needs your fingers more than you do, so protect them.
hope this helps.