I've smoked for a number of years. I've seen and heard about electronic cigarettes, but it always seemed like too much trouble to try them out. Then, about two months ago I saw some hanging in a convenience store, so I bought one.
My first impression was all joy. It was a V2 disposable - menthol. It didn't taste like menthol, more like vanilla, but the draw was good, the vapor satisfying. The nicotine was 1.8 - way over the .6 I was used to, but it didn't seem like it mattered. I went online to look them up. Turns out you don't get as much nicotine on a draw as you do with a standard cig. Does a draw give you 1.8 or is that the total for the cartridge? Couldn't find that information anywhere.
The one ecig lasted about a day and a half. At the retail price, that was still less than a pack of my usual brand. No smoke smell on my clothes, no wondering if I have tobacco breath, no butts or ashtrays? I bought a starter kit with no hesitation.
I smoked solely the ecigs for a month. The first week, I felt like I was going through the desert. Looked it up. Dehydration is common, but they said it doesn't last that long. I downed tons of water, but my face started getting super dry, and I was breaking out. I've never had a problem with that, but they say it happens when you stop smoking standard cigs. I waited for it to pass, but it never did.
I don't get sick very often, maybe a head cold once a season, but the ecigs dried out my nose. I blame them for my getting the flu at about week three. It was the sickest I've ever been. I think if they hadn't dried me out so much, the filthy germs never would have found a latch-on place.
After the flu, I thought the worse was over. Drink more water and keep with the ecigs. Then I noticed my tongue was red. That was a sign on anemia. I found a post about it, but it was in a Charlie Brown grown-up voice in my head. If you want to give it a read, here it is: Anemia and eCigs
The last week I smoked ecigs, I started getting allergy attacks. I don't have any allergies - not one - but there was a tickle in my nose that wouldn't go away, sneezing, and my nose was running like a faucet. Yuck!
So... I quit. I quit ecigs. I like smoking. I like the taste of tobacco. I set the little metal stick aside and picked up the paper one again. The first week back on the real cigs, I lost about 3lbs. in water. The ecigs both dried up my face and made me pack on some water weight. Two weeks off them I have no allergy symptoms at all, and my skin is back to normal.
I'm sure someone will say 'It's the PG. You should try VG' [propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin], but VG isn't convenient. It just isn't, and VG is sweet. Here's more info about the two options: PG or VG?
There are a lot of forums with people asking about this symptom or that, so I thought I'd put my whole experience for perusal. Hope it helps.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Voting Themselves Back into Slavery
I woke up today to a New America. An America with its hand out to the government. An America with no core values or morals. An America where people vote not on what is best for the country, but solely on race.
The press is reporting that 93% of the black population of voters voted for Obama. I know people in that group have lost jobs. I know they have lost homes. I know a great percentage of them are not doing better now then they were four years ago. But, they don't care. They voted against their own best interest for someone based only on the color of his skin. They voted themselves out of jobs, into higher taxes, out of opportunities to work hard and succeed, into an America that will be the Milquetoast of the world - because Obama is black like them. They celebrated last night. Celebrated the demise of America as a free nation, with opportunities for all, without government interference. They celebrated for their race, at the cost of America.
I tried to think how I could write this without sounding racist. It can't be done. They are racist. The majority of blacks in America voted solely on race - to the detriment of the entire country. We aren't supposed to say it was a mistake, a stupid, stupid mistake to vote for Obama. We aren't, because it sounds like we are saying black people are stupid. I am saying anyone, anyone, who voted for Obama is stupid - plain and simple. They neither understand economics or freedom. They have voted themselves back into slavery.
Obama does not represent America as it was founded. He represents a Euro-style country. A country of dependent citizenship, social engineering, weakened status in the world.
You don't care about the country. You care either about race or taking from other people. That's it. That's you. Have a look in the mirror and when things go quickly to hell, as they will with his guidance, congratulate yourself.
The press is reporting that 93% of the black population of voters voted for Obama. I know people in that group have lost jobs. I know they have lost homes. I know a great percentage of them are not doing better now then they were four years ago. But, they don't care. They voted against their own best interest for someone based only on the color of his skin. They voted themselves out of jobs, into higher taxes, out of opportunities to work hard and succeed, into an America that will be the Milquetoast of the world - because Obama is black like them. They celebrated last night. Celebrated the demise of America as a free nation, with opportunities for all, without government interference. They celebrated for their race, at the cost of America.
I tried to think how I could write this without sounding racist. It can't be done. They are racist. The majority of blacks in America voted solely on race - to the detriment of the entire country. We aren't supposed to say it was a mistake, a stupid, stupid mistake to vote for Obama. We aren't, because it sounds like we are saying black people are stupid. I am saying anyone, anyone, who voted for Obama is stupid - plain and simple. They neither understand economics or freedom. They have voted themselves back into slavery.
Obama does not represent America as it was founded. He represents a Euro-style country. A country of dependent citizenship, social engineering, weakened status in the world.
If you voted for him, you are stupid.
You don't care about the country. You care either about race or taking from other people. That's it. That's you. Have a look in the mirror and when things go quickly to hell, as they will with his guidance, congratulate yourself.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Dear [Company Who Recently Changed Their Product]
Products change. Some companies tinker with their products almost as much as Facebook tinkers with their layout. It used to be, when a product changed radically, those who loved it would start letter writing campaigns. The company would feel the backlash and, sometimes, revert back to the much-loved version. Think, New Coke.
Now we have eBay. If a product changes, we can go to eBay and buy years worth of the old version. The company has lost a customer - for years. They'll think that customer has moved to another product. They'll try to win them back, but they can't. It's still their customer, just outside of their reach.
For example, a few years ago Nexxus changed the formula of their Humectress product. I've used it since forever. The new formula has a too sweet smell, but worse, it doesn't work. I went to eBay. I now have enough to last about 10 years. That's ten years that Nexxus will not have me as a customer. I will be using their product, but they will have no sales from me for ten years. They can run all the sales they can think up. They could even reformulate Humectress. They still have to wait out the ten years before I'll even consider one of their products again.
Consumers win in this. We get the product we want. We get it, usually, less expensively and for extended periods. The companies lose. I hope it teaches them a lesson.
Now we have eBay. If a product changes, we can go to eBay and buy years worth of the old version. The company has lost a customer - for years. They'll think that customer has moved to another product. They'll try to win them back, but they can't. It's still their customer, just outside of their reach.
For example, a few years ago Nexxus changed the formula of their Humectress product. I've used it since forever. The new formula has a too sweet smell, but worse, it doesn't work. I went to eBay. I now have enough to last about 10 years. That's ten years that Nexxus will not have me as a customer. I will be using their product, but they will have no sales from me for ten years. They can run all the sales they can think up. They could even reformulate Humectress. They still have to wait out the ten years before I'll even consider one of their products again.
Consumers win in this. We get the product we want. We get it, usually, less expensively and for extended periods. The companies lose. I hope it teaches them a lesson.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
John Ferber's Dirty Little Domain Secret
Behind the scenes of the internet, there's a dirty little secret. Some people are making millions. They buy and sell domain names. They've been doing it since the internet first came to the publics attention. Sounds like a great idea. Nothing wrong with that, right? Many are doing it legitimately, but others are doing it on the backs of small internet shops and business owners. You've probably heard of cybersquatting.
In the early years of the internet, cybersquatters were vilified. They would buy domains with business names or common misspellings and hold them, asking ridiculous prices from those who needed them - who could legitimately use them. Famous cases abound. Big companies, like Microsoft and Yahoo!, won disputes over variations of their domain/business names, while smaller companies without their resources have gone out of business over purposefully misdirected traffic.
Cybersquatting used to be a bad thing. Now, the squatters have taken enough of the internet to publicize themselves as money-making geniuses. They use the domain names - hundreds of them - that they own to make fake sites about domain information and news. Their fake sites sing their praises. They are millionaires, philanthropist, marketing geniuses. Yes, it is brilliant marketing. They fill search results with how wonderful they are, to prevent the truth from showing up. They don't want you to find the links about who they really are - wolves in sheeps clothing.
One of the top domain name sellers is John Ferber with Domain Holdings, LLC. He was even featured on ABC's Secret Millionaire. Notice the word 'secret' right there in the title of the show? The secret is, he and his girlfriend, Jenna Wehner, help cybersquatters sell off the domain names they're squatting.
They've made their millions with legitimate domain name sales, but they're also making money on the backs of business owners whose domain names squatters have purchased. John Ferber, his company, and Jenna Wehner, his girlfriend, are helping cybersquatters collect ransom - thousands of times the original cost of a domain - from business owners trying to stop misdirection of their customers/business.
Is that genius or evil?
Getting in on the ground floor of domain names - buying names to resell for a profit - there's nothing wrong with that. Generic domain names are fair game.
Buying domain names of current businesses for the sole purpose of holding that name hostage to force the business owner to pay you thousands, is the very definition of cybersquatting.
ABC pats John Ferber on the back. Kudos on the MicroGiving business! He's helping others with micro amounts of cash, while the cybersquatters he, his company, and his girlfriend, represent empty the pockets of small businesses - costing business owners thousands in disputes, lost business and legal fees - knowing they don't have the money to fight his million dollar corporation. All the while, his company makes thousands of fake sites with articles about what a great and wonderful man he is.
Maybe he is a marketing genius?
In the early years of the internet, cybersquatters were vilified. They would buy domains with business names or common misspellings and hold them, asking ridiculous prices from those who needed them - who could legitimately use them. Famous cases abound. Big companies, like Microsoft and Yahoo!, won disputes over variations of their domain/business names, while smaller companies without their resources have gone out of business over purposefully misdirected traffic.
Cybersquatting used to be a bad thing. Now, the squatters have taken enough of the internet to publicize themselves as money-making geniuses. They use the domain names - hundreds of them - that they own to make fake sites about domain information and news. Their fake sites sing their praises. They are millionaires, philanthropist, marketing geniuses. Yes, it is brilliant marketing. They fill search results with how wonderful they are, to prevent the truth from showing up. They don't want you to find the links about who they really are - wolves in sheeps clothing.
One of the top domain name sellers is John Ferber with Domain Holdings, LLC. He was even featured on ABC's Secret Millionaire. Notice the word 'secret' right there in the title of the show? The secret is, he and his girlfriend, Jenna Wehner, help cybersquatters sell off the domain names they're squatting.
They've made their millions with legitimate domain name sales, but they're also making money on the backs of business owners whose domain names squatters have purchased. John Ferber, his company, and Jenna Wehner, his girlfriend, are helping cybersquatters collect ransom - thousands of times the original cost of a domain - from business owners trying to stop misdirection of their customers/business.
Is that genius or evil?
Getting in on the ground floor of domain names - buying names to resell for a profit - there's nothing wrong with that. Generic domain names are fair game.
Buying domain names of current businesses for the sole purpose of holding that name hostage to force the business owner to pay you thousands, is the very definition of cybersquatting.
ABC pats John Ferber on the back. Kudos on the MicroGiving business! He's helping others with micro amounts of cash, while the cybersquatters he, his company, and his girlfriend, represent empty the pockets of small businesses - costing business owners thousands in disputes, lost business and legal fees - knowing they don't have the money to fight his million dollar corporation. All the while, his company makes thousands of fake sites with articles about what a great and wonderful man he is.
Maybe he is a marketing genius?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Training Magazine FAIL
Training Magazine has released a list of the top 125 training programs. I imagine Chesterfield County employees, and those fired in the past year, are either laughing their asses off or fuming in anger.
Chesterfield County, Virginia came in at #19 on the list. The documentation of the awards says:
So, Chesterfield County is being awarded for saving money and hours by firing their most experienced employees? Then, they get the employees left, who fear losing their jobs, to fill out a Success Story summary and say they're doing a great job? That's how it works? That isn't training. That's stupidity. Awarding stupidity only encourages it.
How does the actual training work in Chesterfield County?
Start with a bland Power Point presentation, add a complete print-out of the bland Power Point program, followed by reading what is on the bland Power Point program word for word.
This is what Training Magazine thinks you should do with your company. Fire your best employees, bore the remaining qualified people to the point where they seek jobs elsewhere, and make the rest suffer through this incompetence and say you're doing a great job for fear they'll lose their jobs. If they weren't a government 'business', they would be out of business.
Chesterfield County, Virginia came in at #19 on the list. The documentation of the awards says:
Chesterfield County, Virginia The Center for Organizational Excellence implements a Level 4 evaluation through its Success Story Summary process in which employees demonstrate the application of learning via documented improvements to processes or business functions, including measurement of costs avoided, annual hours saved, cycle time reduction, and customer service or quality of work life improvements. For FY10, employees applying the quality curriculum produced $1.2 million in dollars saved, 661 hours saved, and 39 process improvements. When a department or team completes a process improvement initiative, a Success Story Summary form is completed in CQS Central, a centralized database.
So, Chesterfield County is being awarded for saving money and hours by firing their most experienced employees? Then, they get the employees left, who fear losing their jobs, to fill out a Success Story summary and say they're doing a great job? That's how it works? That isn't training. That's stupidity. Awarding stupidity only encourages it.
How does the actual training work in Chesterfield County?
Start with a bland Power Point presentation, add a complete print-out of the bland Power Point program, followed by reading what is on the bland Power Point program word for word.
This is what Training Magazine thinks you should do with your company. Fire your best employees, bore the remaining qualified people to the point where they seek jobs elsewhere, and make the rest suffer through this incompetence and say you're doing a great job for fear they'll lose their jobs. If they weren't a government 'business', they would be out of business.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Really, Steve Jobs? Really?!
I was given an iPod Touch for Christmas. I love(d) it. It was like my little electronic pet that could do awesome things and was always there for me, until yesterday.
I turned it on as usual, and it flashed the 'Restore' screen. Flashed it. Then, booted normally. Then, it flashed the Apple screen, rebooted, and worked for enough time for me to see that the battery level was low. I plugged it in and charged it, thinking that was the problem. It worked for a couple hours after the charge, then went into a boot sequence that wouldn't stop.
Being new to Apple products, I thought, "Well, maybe someone has had this happen to their iPod?" I looked it up - there are thousand of links about this problem. There are tons of YouTube videos with people showing their iPod doing the exact same thing.
Faulty. The iPod Touch is faulty.
I did a complete restore. I do not have a jailbroken iPod. I am a very conscientious user. I backup. I don't get apps from anywhere but the app store. I haven't dropped it, gotten it wet, sat on it, etc. The only thing that's different today than yesterday is an upgrade to the DSL speed at the house, but I don't see how that could affect it.
After the restore, it ran one more random boot sequence before I went to sleep. This morning it turned on fine.I don't know if it's 'fixed'. I can't rely on it anymore. It could turn into a brick at any minute. I've never had any computer/electronic component that I couldn't trust to work, before. See, I'm a PC and though I've complained about Windows and Microsoft a thousand times, I've always had a reliable Windows system.
Windows/Microsoft has the greatest share of the computer market. People write viruses for Windows. The newest version of a Windows OS usually has a few bugs, but most of the problems arise from areas that are vulnerable to intrusion. The hardware is rarely and issue. Everyone makes hardware for Windows - and the hardware works.
Let's say you run a company that would like to pull in some of those Windows users. You decide you will completely control the hardware for your equipment. Wouldn't you make sure it was the best, most reliable,
hardware you could have made? Seeing as most of the people trying your smaller items - iPod, Touch, iPad - are likely Windows users and this will be their first experience with your brand, don't you want their experience with your product to be great? Don't you want them to have a dependable, stable gadget? Don't you want them to love it so much, they at least consider switching to your computer line?
We all know Jobs is about the flash, but I thought Apple was more than flash. I thought the products were well-made. The Apple products are amazing, but amazing for 6 months could be the reason they don't have the market share of Windows. To me, from my first experience with Apple, it looks like they are making 'really awesome crap'. Toys, for adults, that break like dollar store items, without the cheap price tag.
Why am I so upset, since the iPod Touch was a gift, after all? I bought my mother an iPad for Mother's Day. It looks very nice, but I no longer trust it to work for more than a few months. I could have bought her a laptop or a netbook and she would have been better off. I didn't know Apple doesn't care if their products work, they just want them to look really cool. I feel like a dupe.
Bill Gates, I'm sorry for all the mean things I've said about you and your OS since 1996. Steve Jobs, you suck.
.
I turned it on as usual, and it flashed the 'Restore' screen. Flashed it. Then, booted normally. Then, it flashed the Apple screen, rebooted, and worked for enough time for me to see that the battery level was low. I plugged it in and charged it, thinking that was the problem. It worked for a couple hours after the charge, then went into a boot sequence that wouldn't stop.
Being new to Apple products, I thought, "Well, maybe someone has had this happen to their iPod?" I looked it up - there are thousand of links about this problem. There are tons of YouTube videos with people showing their iPod doing the exact same thing.
Faulty. The iPod Touch is faulty.
I did a complete restore. I do not have a jailbroken iPod. I am a very conscientious user. I backup. I don't get apps from anywhere but the app store. I haven't dropped it, gotten it wet, sat on it, etc. The only thing that's different today than yesterday is an upgrade to the DSL speed at the house, but I don't see how that could affect it.
After the restore, it ran one more random boot sequence before I went to sleep. This morning it turned on fine.I don't know if it's 'fixed'. I can't rely on it anymore. It could turn into a brick at any minute. I've never had any computer/electronic component that I couldn't trust to work, before. See, I'm a PC and though I've complained about Windows and Microsoft a thousand times, I've always had a reliable Windows system.
Windows/Microsoft has the greatest share of the computer market. People write viruses for Windows. The newest version of a Windows OS usually has a few bugs, but most of the problems arise from areas that are vulnerable to intrusion. The hardware is rarely and issue. Everyone makes hardware for Windows - and the hardware works.
Let's say you run a company that would like to pull in some of those Windows users. You decide you will completely control the hardware for your equipment. Wouldn't you make sure it was the best, most reliable,
hardware you could have made? Seeing as most of the people trying your smaller items - iPod, Touch, iPad - are likely Windows users and this will be their first experience with your brand, don't you want their experience with your product to be great? Don't you want them to have a dependable, stable gadget? Don't you want them to love it so much, they at least consider switching to your computer line?
We all know Jobs is about the flash, but I thought Apple was more than flash. I thought the products were well-made. The Apple products are amazing, but amazing for 6 months could be the reason they don't have the market share of Windows. To me, from my first experience with Apple, it looks like they are making 'really awesome crap'. Toys, for adults, that break like dollar store items, without the cheap price tag.
Why am I so upset, since the iPod Touch was a gift, after all? I bought my mother an iPad for Mother's Day. It looks very nice, but I no longer trust it to work for more than a few months. I could have bought her a laptop or a netbook and she would have been better off. I didn't know Apple doesn't care if their products work, they just want them to look really cool. I feel like a dupe.
Bill Gates, I'm sorry for all the mean things I've said about you and your OS since 1996. Steve Jobs, you suck.
.
Monday, April 12, 2010
The iPad, or Why I'd Drop That Thing
I'm not getting an iPad. I'm not even considering it. It looks cool. Almost like something I'd want, but you can't print with it, so you can't really write with it, unless you email all your documents over to another computer.
I have an iPod Touch and it's exactly what I want - everything but a phone. The iPad is just a really BIG iPod. Plus, there's nothing to hold onto. I have trouble with the iPod. I need to get a holster for it, or something. You can't do much of anything while holding it; it's too slippery. Imagine a giant slippery piece of electronics. You can't drop it in your pocket. What are you going to do with it when you need your hands? Do you have to walk around all day with a bag on, just to hold it? It doesn't seem like a very convenient
tool.
.
I have an iPod Touch and it's exactly what I want - everything but a phone. The iPad is just a really BIG iPod. Plus, there's nothing to hold onto. I have trouble with the iPod. I need to get a holster for it, or something. You can't do much of anything while holding it; it's too slippery. Imagine a giant slippery piece of electronics. You can't drop it in your pocket. What are you going to do with it when you need your hands? Do you have to walk around all day with a bag on, just to hold it? It doesn't seem like a very convenient
tool.
.
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