soda PDF ???

I settled on PDF-Xchange (free) after running into some government PDF forms that nothing else was capable of dealing with. They had used some archaic features and some cutting edge barely supported new features in the same legacy tender documents that just keep on growing.

The result is that most PDF editors apart from the full ripooff Adobe cannot handle all of the range of "features" used in the document.

Including the full ripoff Adobe products. The only thing I use Adobe Pro (?) is to glue PDFs together and I don't do that much anymore (our schematic editor would only print one page at a time - still does but it will now output PDFs of all pages).

Soda isn't healthy for you, even diet soda. Wine is more healthy :-)

Yes, it has really nice features, even in the free version.

Agreed. I switched to PDF-XChange about 3 years ago and never regretted it. I haven't tried Soda PDF because I don't need a different PDF editor. PDF-XChange works well enough for me.

Be sure to get the (free) editor instead of the (free) viewer:

For a while, I had both Adobe Acrobat Viewer and PDF-XChange Editor installed on the same machine. I could switch back and forth, or view the same document in both viewers for comparison. Other than confusion when I wasn't paying attention and setting the default PDF viewer, I had no problems.

If you're shopping around for a PDF editor, see:

This was discussed previously, but you might want to look into buying a PDF decryption program so that you can add notation and margin notes to data sheets.

Also, you may want to install Irfanview and it's plug-ins. I use it as a quick way of generating JPG images from PDF documents. I suggest you install the 32 bit version, even if you have a 64 bit operating system, because some of the plugings don't quite work (yet) in 64 bit.

Congratulations on surviving both cancer and medical practicing.

Thanks! Had the prognosis been adverse on Thursday I was prepared to say, "This isn't the quality of life I want, daily trips to radiation and chemo... I'm outta here" ;-)

I _am_ going to buy...

{>:-}

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | STV, Queen Creek, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

I'm looking for work... see my website.

Thinking outside the box...producing elegant & economic solutions.

Yeah, I know. I've been fairly close twice. Last January, the cardiologist declared that there's nothing left for me except heroics and experimental medicines and procedures. So, I bought a few cheap toys to make me happy (retail therapy) but otherwise, did nothing. In June, the same cardiologist, looking at nearly identical test results, and declared that I could live forever on a diet of prescription drugs and that there were many expensive things that could be done for me if anything went awry. In the parking lot, I tossed a coin, and decided that I won't be writing a bucket list, buying a bigger quadcopter, and emptying the bank account quite yet.

Indecision is the key to flexibility.

Sigh. It's never too late to get yourself organized. I guess I shouldn't complain. I still haven't updated my last will.

Good luck and congratulations (again).

I actually left a letter for my oldest son in regard to accounts, usernames, passwords, etc, before the surgery in March. The book just looks like an easier way to organize stuff.

(And I've phased out most of my Rx meds... most seem quite superfluous ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Some doctors tend to over-prescribe but not all of them do. Some medications have targets that are not obvious to laymen.

Some doctors in India have a habit of prescribing the most expensive one out of many different brands of the same medicine because they're in cahoots with the company and/or a local seller. They even tell a patient to buy it from a certain shop. it's a despicable practice. With many medicines, the ratio of the least to the most expensive brand can be as much as 1 to 10.

The present central government is apparently aware of this. They've made available a series of generic medicines that cost a small fraction of what those unscrupulous doctors prescribe.

Sorry about the rant. I often work closely with members of the medical profession and have felt strongly about this for a long time.

I haven't found better.

I haven't seen too many encrypted datasheets and the ones that are usually printable (to PDF). The prints are often not searchable so I keep both versions around. Sometimes I can get unencrypted versions of the datasheet from the manufacturer (blackmail/ball often works ;-).

I add our pricing matrix to every datasheet so I can have one place to go when the marketing types want a BOM cost.

I often use the snip function and paste into Paint, if I need a JPG. If I just want to copy something into an existing PDF, the snip/paste function works well with PDF-XChange.

Your cardiologist was having a bad day, or did he figure out that you're still good for a few toys of his own? ;-) Mine are definitely in the latter camp (to the tune of ~$50K/yr). They're spreading the gold mine around, too.

Ya gotta get that done. Make sure the government doesn't get it's filthy hands on a dime of what's left.

Precisely. It's not a good idea to second guess one's doctors, though a second opinion is never in bad form. I'm on nine or ten but I know what each if for.

They can't really do that here. The insurance companies get there first. They tell the patient where to buy the drugs. ;-) There really isn't a kickback path for them anymore.

The "free market" has done that here. Once a patent expires, several companies are ready to jump in. There are exceptions but there always are.

You're right to be. It's fraud.

Neither. So far, I haven't seen any evidence of greed or personal enrichment. The problem seems to be that he didn't review my computerized medical history well enough before passing judgment. My guess(tm) is that he spent perhaps 60 seconds skimming my records before our appointment. That's not sufficient time to obtain adequate information for a prognosis. This is at a large medical facility: which schedules back-to-back office visits on an assembly line basis. One emergency and all the "slack" time for reading patient histories disappears.

I've been told that medicines are rather cheap in India due to the lack of any patent protection for drugs. Did I miss something or has something changed? In the US, the patient has the option of selecting a generic medicine at the pharmacy.

In 1989, the US congress passed the "Stark Law" which prohibits doctors from referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to medical facilities in which they have a financial interest. Many states have adopted a similar law, which expands the protection to non-federally financed facilities. There have also been updates and amendments over the years to cover diagnostics and treatment facilities.

I experienced that in March, after the bile duct surgery, the hospital doctors prescribed pretty much the same meds that I was taking prior to admittance except different brand names.

I shredded the prescriptions and tossed them in the trash >:-} ...Jim Thompson

In my case, the "personal enrichment" comes with the territory. Tough case.

Yeouch! It's time to find a new cardiologist, IMO. My brother wasn't happy with how he was treated and came across country to see my cardiologist. He can now function and is back hiking, after three years of barely being able to do his shopping. The right doctor makes all the difference.

You absolutely do *not* have that option unless the doctor has written the prescription that way. If the prescription is written for the name brand, you can only receive the name brand. Heck, I was taking a prescription for a drug that had two labeled uses, but they were different labels with two different numbers and one was half the price of the other. They couldn't sell me the cheaper label until I got the prescription changed.

I had a doctor strong arm me to have a lithotripsy done at an out patient surgery center. I wanted the hospital but he kept pressuring me to use the surgery center. The day of the surgery I had to sign a form that said I was aware he had a financial interest in the facility. I should have known.

Anyone know the difference between the Editor and the Editor Plus? Even the two product links go to the same page which doesn't distinguish the two other than an eleven dollar difference in price. When I looked at the downloads, the files have the same name and size.