OT: A nation of scammers (US Capitalism gone wild?)

There is a big difference between a veteran and a Veteran.

They not only wear fatigues, but they have them marked was Army or Marines, and have unit patches. That is out and out fraud, if they didn't serve in those specific units. There were some claiming to be Vietnam Era Veterans who were in their late 20s, who were walking into traffic at stoplights to collect money. If it were up to me, anyone caught committing this type of fraud would be on the next flight to Iraq or Afghanistan and assigned to the bomb disposal units.

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

Greetings Bill! The pay's even better than that. The new ones all have a little r.f. link, so the reader-guy just drives past 'em, and his reader sucks in the data from afar.

I think the units are in 1000 cubic foot. One cubic foot is less than a couple of 5 gallon buckets. The minimum charge in Baltimore County, MD for the smallest water supply (5/8") is $13.23, which will give you up to 1000 cubic feet or about 7500 gallons. Considering that this water is potable, it is a real bargain. The cost of having someone read the meter is a small part of the fee. It also includes the cost of installing that RF device. The meter reader just gets the usual salary or hourly wage, but the city can make do with fewer people on the road, and it is safer and less disruptive than stopping a truck on the street and having someone open a lid and read a meter.

The fees for water really should be much higher so that the aging infrastructure can be maintained and replaced to reduce the frequent water main breaks. In my neighborhood, which consists of a couple dozen households, we had to petition for installation of municipal water supply, and I had to pay about $10,000 for that privilege. But many of us were using shallow wells of dubious quality and flow, so it was well worth it.

I think it is a good deal at less than 2 cents a gallon. Besides, for $50 you can get plans to run your car on water! :)

Paul

That doesn't work on German cars. They only run on beer. :)

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

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Yeah, I was wondering about that too!! One cubit foot of water used per month doesn't exactly allow for too many baths!

But hey, not one to judge here.... :)

(Actually, I assumed he had a well also.)

50

Or Old Milwaukee / Pabst Blue Ribbon, since they are mostly water.

I use Sprint too. My contract expired in 2007 and I've been thinking about either re-upping, possibly getting a new phone (this battery should die any minute?? - it's amazing it's lasted this long!!!), If I switch, the closest thing they offer to what I have now costs about $10 more.

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My first cell phone was a Motorola TracFone I got as a Christmas gift in

2005. Since then I have only paid $99/year for about 400 minutes, which have now accumulated to over 1000. In September 2008 I lost that phone and bought a new one, with camera, for $50, and transferred the minutes. A few days later, I found the phone I had lost, and I put it aside as a spare. Yesterday I was cleaning up, found the phone, and tried to power it up, expecting it to be dead after one and a half years. But it powered up, the screen was reasonably bright, and it seemed to work fine, except it was deactivated.

I leave my phone turned off except when I need to use it or I am expecting a call, so I only recharge every couple of months or so. But I still think it is impressive that the battery held a decent charge for so long. I have also had very good reception with both Motorola phones, while other people (even the Verizon FIOS guys) could not get a good signal on their cell phones standing next to me with my TracFone showing three or four bars. "Can you hear me now?" :)

Paul

Poorly recycled waste water. :(

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

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- FYI

These fees are probably relates to the Universal Service Fund. Basically, all of us pitch in to promote wired and wireless service in rural areas (where it is expensive for carriers to deploy towers and landline assets). Nevermind they're all making record profits....

Also, to put high-speed data in public schools and libraries in rural areas.

It also goes to fund free phone services for low-income folks, disabled persons, etc... (Which I mind less).

The FCC currently wants to expand these programs to include more wireless, and 3G deployments in rural areas. The latter will probably take a very long time...

Good syrup will never go bad. If it does mold, just bring it to a boil; good as new.

"Paul E. Schoen" wrote in news:Umdmn.97309$G snipped-for-privacy@newsfe15.iad:

you can still use it to call 911. Or you can donate it to charity and some poor person will get a cellphone.

AFAIK,Li-ion bateries can hold a charge for 6 months of storage. that's why they're popular for consumer power tools that get intermittent use;very low self-discharge.

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Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

Heinz

I use some with fries but BBQ sauce tastes much better for that.

news: snipped-for-privacy@y11g2000yqh.googlegroups.com.

Yes, but the issue is not so much image quality as it is program quality.

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Are they? Do tell.

-- Cheers, James Arthur

"Laser-like focus on jobs."

I agree. All the gold commercials are complete scams. If you want gold go find someone to sell you an ounce for 8% over spot price. They will sell you gold at prices that will take another 50% devaluation on the dollar to just break even.

I call these commercials all the time to challenge them:

Video professor? - complete joke.

Rosetta Stone? I have called two times for my "free" demo disk. Guess what - no demo disk sent to me yet. I had to listen to their crap for 5 minutes to sign up for lessons and keep asking them for the free demo disk that they talked about how badly they want to send you.

Free smoothies. Nope. They did not mention the shipping and handling fees on the commercial. Wanted to send them to me for free. Of course I will never give these scumballs my credit card number.

Every call is recorded so they can have proof that you agreed to their $400 program after they take your credit card to simply process your free whatever.

I call these guys all the time. I hope that by calling these liar scumbags out that maybe some of the people who take the calls will get a conscience and quit.

Is it a scam though? Or just over-priced instructional videos of poor quality?

Well, his policies certainly have zapped enough of 'em and he's certainly not done with his laser yet.

My impression about video professor from based upon reading stuff like this:

Is that they record your call and trick you into "agreeing" to purchase a higher end product and then you are hosed. I have called these type of guys. They always try to get you to sign up for the higher dollar program with the "money back guarantee" of course.

I never really cared for BBQ. What people told me was 'the best' always made me sick. :(

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Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'