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User: trakwebster

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  1. Totally Stupid on Judge Says U.S. Money Violates Rights of the Blind · · Score: 1

    There may be good reasons to make currency in different sizes.

    However, it seems crazy to force all cash-register-using merchants in the us to throw away the old machines and buy new ones. It seems crazy to make every ATM across American useless. Likewise machines that sell cigarettes or stamps or anything else that accepts bills, or bill changers. It seems lunatic to cause the kind of chaos to manufacturers of any kind of machine that processes bills.

    This is causing chaos to the multitude to provide special privilege to the small group, and it's crazy. Or, more exactly, it's just stupid. It is roughly equivalent to outlawing CRT monitors or paintings in museums because blind persons cannot see them.

    If you also think it's stupid, then give the judge's office a call and let him know it's stupid. The phone number is (202) 354-3460. (I'm not blabbing any secrets. Web search on 'U.S. District Judge James Robertson' presents the phone number to you.)

  2. Re:lack of excercise and obesity AND PLASTICS on Testosterone Tumbling in American Males · · Score: 2, Informative

    Common plastics used to package convenience foods have estrogenic side-effects. If you buy cabbages and beets and bread in paper bags, and stuff in cans, that's great. But buy and store cabbages and beets in plastic bags, plastic refrigerator cartons and it's like getting a little dose of estrogen. Buy microwave dinners in plastic, sitting in plastic-lined little plates, and it's like getting a little dose of estrogen. Buy bread in plastic, soda in plastic, milk in plastic-lined cartons, meat wrapped in plastic, orange juice in plastic, eggs in plastic cartons, and frozen fruits in plastic bags -- Get your Estrogen here, boys!

  3. Re:Free Lunch? on Verizon Threatens Google's 'Free Lunch' · · Score: 1

    Right On, Mrs. Grundy! I was just about to say the same. If Verizon doesn't get money for their network now, then where does their revenue come from? Robbing Seven-Eleven stores?

    Law 23 of Human Belief Systems states that 'The Human finds it easy to believe what the Human would *like* to believe.' And that Verizon idiot apparently has fallen into the same sense of entitlement that makes fools of most of us at one time or another.

    Too damn bad, Verizon. How gross and stupid. And stop snivelling!

  4. Liberal-Biased News? on A Recipe for Newspaper Survival in the Internet Age · · Score: 1

    When I was young I was quite liberal. However, looking back it appears that a lot of my liberal views were the same as my rebelliousness, meaning that like many young folks, I knew everything and thought anybody over 30 was an idiot, because I knew so much better.

    Now I'm almost 62. As I grew older, I found myself agreeing less and less with the newspapers. These days I've become quite conservative. (I've heard it said that older folks tend to have something to conserve; maybe that's it.)

    I resigned from the AARP (American Assn of Retired Persons) when it became apparent that their publications seem to be mainly left-wing lobbying. Now my point is not whether or not I am correct to be a conservative. My point is that many, many people become more conservative with aging.

    The San Francisco Bay Guardian (very liberal and quite fun as well) had a motto which was a quote. It said their purpose was to "print the news and Raise Hell." They've done a good job of it.

    And perhaps this might explain why newspapers grew so liberal over time. Appealing to the young and liberal audience paid off. But now things have changed.

    The young and rebellious audience has gone to computers. Perhaps the core audience that made liberal bias profitable has gone.

    I don't raise this idea to quibble about whether left-wing or right-wing is 'correct,' but to suggest that perhaps these days the newspapers should stick to printing the news, and perhaps the time for Raising Hell has come and gone.

  5. How to Get a Girlfriend (or a boyfriend) on Dating Design Patterns · · Score: 1

    I was a flop at dating until age 26, when I developed a method, which turned out to be pretty effective. Everyone I know who has tried this method has reported success, and quite a few have tried it.

    Some years ago, I wrote it up as a book, but decided recently not to sell it, and have instead placed the entire method online for free download.

    I suspect that it will work for most anyone. It is known to work for guys wanting to get a girlfriend, and it is known to work for women wanting to get a boyfriend. It has no information whatsoever about how to get along with a girlfriend once you've got one.

    It is also, in my humble opinion, a fun and interesting read. You can find the free "Sweetheart Report: How to Get a Girlfriend (or a Boyfriend)" here:

    http://www.24metro.com/library/sweetheart_report

    If you have no difficulties nor shyness with women, please pass the info along to some of your friends who find themselves lonlier than they'd like to be.

    -- Arthur Cronos, aka Lloyd Baxter, aka The Bloggard (http://bloggard.com)

  6. Re:Easy answer on Getting A Laptop With The Low U.S. Dollar · · Score: 1

    Try to buy the laptop in one state, and have it shipped to an address in a different state. In many cases, this will avoid the state's sales tax, which is often 7% or so. However, for certain larger companies, because they do business in so many states, they collect sales tax in every state. It's worth some email to Dell to see if this is the case.

  7. How to Find a Girlfriend on Googling For Prospective Date Unmasks Fugitive · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    [unusual suggestion]

    This is somewhat off the subject, but maybe not so far off. For years and years (and years and years) I was very clumsy when it came to women, and when I was 26 I decided that this was something that I could learn.

    So I developed a method, and it worked for me. (I realize this is starting to sound like an infomercial, but it isn't! Let me interject here that nobody is going to try to sell you anything -- not now, and now later -- but I will tell you how to get a girlfriend if you could use some help.)

    I told some friends about my marvy new method, and several tried it, and it worked for them, too. So I wrote it down. I once thought I might sell it, but later I decided just to give it away, in hopes that some other guys won't have to go through being awkward as I was.

    It's written up like a report, and posted online among some free marketing material, on a site I manage. You can find the free "Sweetheart Report" at --

    http://www.24metro.com/library/sweetheart_report

    The 24Metro site sells voicemail and webhosting, but you don't have to buy anything or log in or anything. The above link takes you directly to the free report.

    I expect to hear no flames, my bretheren. There is no catch. It's exactly what I claim: A powerful but simple method that will show anyone how to get a girlfriend, spelled out in complete detail, and available online at no cost, period.

    From the time I developed this method at 26, I've had no difficulty meeting women. (Getting along with them, now that's something else!) Now I'm 59, and I've been with the same woman for the last 15 years, so it actually worked big time for me.

    It might not work for you, I suppose, but I've received rather enthusiastic feedback. You've got nothing to lose but lonely.

    If you're experiencing anything less than fun in your woman-searching, let me do you a favor. Check it out and try it. Most likely it will do the job. If you can't try the method now, for some sort of good reason which your mind will make up, bookmark the site and try it later. I can't really guarantee it will work for you, because some people can botch up bubble-gum. But it's worked for most other folks.

    No flames, now. If I hear any flames -- especially from anybody who hasn't read it or tried it -- I shall laugh like this: Ha Ha!

    [/unusual suggestion]

  8. Re:FreeDOS on Dell Offers FreeDOS With New PCs · · Score: 1

    Booting to a DOS floppy also generally makes a CD-driver available, and from a CD one can install software such as Linux commonly delivered on a CD.

  9. Re:Statutory Invention Registrations on What Happens When Patents Meet Antipatents? · · Score: 1

    The S.I.R. Patent is *EXACTLY* an 'anti-patent'. I thought the name was 'Statuatory Information Patent', but in any event it is (a) lower cost than regular patents, (b) simplified form I think, and (c) designed specifically to register an idea with the patent bureau for which you claim no proprietary interest, which means the idea is protected from somebody else patenting it. Therefore, this is the ideal and existing channel for filing an idea to make sure nobody 'reinvents' something you're already using and then gives you legal hassles for using it, and it means that open-sourcers could invest a small amount of time and money to keep the work open source. Although I've filed a couple of patents, I'm no expert, but it appears pretty clear that the S.I.R. would be much greater protection than 'publication' or 'prior use', because (a) it would head the rustlers off at the pass; (b) they cannot 'overlook' your published 'prior art', and more importantly the patent *examiners* at the USPTO are far more likely to find it in USPTO records than in some software journal, and (c) you'd be spared the legal expense of later 'proving' your rights in court. I say, use the S.I.R., sir! That's what it's there for!

  10. Re:Kodak DC280 and Kodak DC290 on Which Digital Camera Do You Recommend? · · Score: 1

    I needed to photograph some musical instruments for a website, and occasional snaps of folks while travelling, as well as some close-up how-to photos -- all for the web. ZDNet had an article showing pix made by different cameras, and of all the pix there, I thought the Kodak DC280 looked crisp and good color tone. (Admittedly, this may relate a lot to the flash and other factors, but it's all I had to go on.) So I bought one for $599, and along with some lights and experimentation, it's done fine for the web. It does *not* even compare in total quality to my old Minolta 35mm, and I'd like the DC280 better if it gave me more control over aperature/speed, and a spot-focus -- but it is adequate for the task. Kodak has come out with a slightly more expensive DC290 which appears to have more features, but whether it takes better pix, I don't know.

  11. Re:Open Source(TM) Power? on Technologies That Shaped the Last Century? · · Score: 1

    Actually, one of Tesla's dreams was to provide free world-wide power. He claimed to have invented broadcastable power, and it's a reported fact that light bulbs stuck into the ground at a distance from his lab would light up, so it seems to have worked. Further, I believe him, because he was a marvellously *different* kind of human. I would vote that the Three-Phase Generator is been the most important innovation, because it drives the refrigerators, sewage and water plants, rocket facilities, and transistor-manufacturing facilities all mentioned earlier. The Three-Phase generator was primarily an innovation because it eliminated *brushes* which were an invariable (and undersirable) component of previous generators. The emphasis is wrong, however. The enabling technology was *Distributable Electricity*, and Tesla was the guy that gave us a working system. He states that his choice of voltage and frequency are as they are because 110 volts at 60 hz is easy to step up and step down to drive devices of the time. Maybe we got better stuff now, but Nikola Tesla pretty much gave us our world.

  12. Nominate Nicolai Tesla as Prime Nerd on Top Ten Geeks of the Millennium? · · Score: 3

    When Edison's DC generators were found incapable of sending electricity for any useful distance, Nicolai Tesla's AC generators and his patents were 'leased' to a man named Westinghouse, who manufactured generators and created the enabling technology (electric power) which has made possible radio, television, computers, MTV, CD's, lighted houses, street lamps, stop lights, Times Square, the transistor, logic gates, embedded computers, linux, perl, basic, cobol, electric typewriters, most modern manufacturing, space launches, satellites, and therefore their products such as Elvis, REM, Puff Daddy, Milton Berle, televised boxing matches, Star Wars, and more. The drive for dominance between DC and AC as methods was intense: The Edison faction, trying to get DC accepted, publically electocuted a dog with AC to show the danger of alternating current. Tesla also held initial patents and built working devices for many radio devices, a form of television, sonar, radio-controlled guidance systems, a source of illumination which had no obvious point of origin, photography of the 'kirlian aura', and wireless transmission of electric power. And let us not forget the Tesla Coil, without which 'It's Alive! It's Alive!' would probably have never been possible (Frankenstein). Tesla was an unusual man. The scent of peaches made him pass out and he required exactly thirteen napkins at each meal. He suffered from fevers as a child. He reported that his idea of electricity was fundamentally different from all current views, and he could build his machines in his mind to test them with the consequence that his first physical implementation frequently worked perfectly. He is said to have built massive coils of wire whose diameter may have been as large as a foot, and which coils used the thickness of the earth as a resonant device -- these coils on one occasion were said to produce small earthquakes. His sale of generator patents to Westinghouse contained a payment of so many cents per kilowatt, but Westinghouse later induced Tesla to give up this payment. Tesla did so. He died penniless in the late 40's. Tesla gave us our world as we know it. Tesla's later experiments concerned a set of devices he'd invented which would ring the globe, providing free electric power for the entire world's population. It actually worked. You could stick light bulbs into the ground a half mile from his laboratory, and they would light up. Needless to say, Tesla's plans for free power for the world didn't sound so great to Westinghouse and Company. Strangely, a fire destroyed his laboratory and all notes with it, and this was the end of free power for the world. Let's tip the hat to Nicolai Tesla ... the original open source kind of guy, and the man who enabled every day you experience. Thank you, Mr. Tesla