GMO E. coli
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Re: GMO E. coli
I've seen quite a few pictures of how people innovate with their home brewed computer setups. The lighting inside is generally LED or neon, but some of it looks custom designed. To light up a specific fan, for example. I think that is all neat looking but it consumes power and really isn't functional. It might be worth a picture on Facebook, or some such thing, but nobody comes around to see my computer equipment other than my wife. Plus, it's on the floor and mostly out of sight. That's why I like the idea of using the wooden stereo cabinet. It would be a piece of room furniture and pretty obvious. But, alas, I would be the only person on the planet to see it other than my wife of many years. What good is something fancy if you can't show it off?
Re: GMO E. coli
I see all the lights and whistles on these hi-end gaming computers and think to myself, my what a distraction.
Even the old computer her son gave Debi has way too many lights on it to make the case light up among other things.
It is a huge monster, water cooled, which broke once and got water all over everything. But he dried it out and had the shop repair the water cooling system. I assume it is totally closed system since there is no way to add more water other than what the shop put in it.
If you remember the old Win95 and Win98 series of bulky white computers, that is what I had in my steel cabinet.
After I moved, I had three computers on a 2'x2' plywood board on wheels, because I only used those old computers for HD storage. Each one had an extra large fan because I had at least 3 HDs in each, the newest had 4 HDs. I shared the entire group of drives in those on the network, but required a password to get into them. The whole drive, not just folders. At the time, that was the easiest way to do it. All of those old computers were dismantled for parts, but most of the parts were unusable in anything new, so they all got pitched. However, I did take a lot of things from them, like power supplies and memory sticks to my computer guy, because they still fixed super old computers at the time.
I really should take a picture of my office with all the computers in here, that not too long ago, they were all working, and 4 were on one KVM switch, and 2 on another KVM switch.
Now I have no money, no time, no energy, and only one working computer, which I don't like. I always like to have a backup ready to go, hi hi.
Even the old computer her son gave Debi has way too many lights on it to make the case light up among other things.
It is a huge monster, water cooled, which broke once and got water all over everything. But he dried it out and had the shop repair the water cooling system. I assume it is totally closed system since there is no way to add more water other than what the shop put in it.
If you remember the old Win95 and Win98 series of bulky white computers, that is what I had in my steel cabinet.
After I moved, I had three computers on a 2'x2' plywood board on wheels, because I only used those old computers for HD storage. Each one had an extra large fan because I had at least 3 HDs in each, the newest had 4 HDs. I shared the entire group of drives in those on the network, but required a password to get into them. The whole drive, not just folders. At the time, that was the easiest way to do it. All of those old computers were dismantled for parts, but most of the parts were unusable in anything new, so they all got pitched. However, I did take a lot of things from them, like power supplies and memory sticks to my computer guy, because they still fixed super old computers at the time.
I really should take a picture of my office with all the computers in here, that not too long ago, they were all working, and 4 were on one KVM switch, and 2 on another KVM switch.
Now I have no money, no time, no energy, and only one working computer, which I don't like. I always like to have a backup ready to go, hi hi.
Re: GMO E. coli
It's slightly humorous for you to say all those lit up computer cases are nothing more than distractions. That would be absolutely true in an office or business environment, but those glow in the dark computers are owed by serious gamers and hacker wanna bees. The more glitz the better. Plus those guys are ego maniacs to the max. Showing off their souped up rigs to fellow nerds and geeks is what it's all about. The fact that they can play high end games too is just a bonus.
You have my most sincere sympathies regarding all those non-working computers. I could tell you that you have some of the more interesting memories I've ever read about, but that doesn't do much for mental outlook today. If you can hang in there long enough the computer on which I'm composing this message can easily end up in Knoxville. It was my strong desire to have it there by now, or at least to have replaced it with something more state of the art. But, alas, there are financial considerations preventing that all from happening at the moment. I'm extremely fortunate to be slightly better off than you appear to be, but as I've stated elsewhere that could, and probably will, change rapidly. My only hope is that today's lotto payout is $630 million. I well know that I would not see anywhere near that amount, but even half would be magnitudes more than I ever hoped to win. You have my word that one way or another I'll see to it that you have a back up computer should the gods of the Missouori Lottery smile favorably upon me. I'm thinking those gods are all Republicans so that realistically I don't stand a chance.
You have my most sincere sympathies regarding all those non-working computers. I could tell you that you have some of the more interesting memories I've ever read about, but that doesn't do much for mental outlook today. If you can hang in there long enough the computer on which I'm composing this message can easily end up in Knoxville. It was my strong desire to have it there by now, or at least to have replaced it with something more state of the art. But, alas, there are financial considerations preventing that all from happening at the moment. I'm extremely fortunate to be slightly better off than you appear to be, but as I've stated elsewhere that could, and probably will, change rapidly. My only hope is that today's lotto payout is $630 million. I well know that I would not see anywhere near that amount, but even half would be magnitudes more than I ever hoped to win. You have my word that one way or another I'll see to it that you have a back up computer should the gods of the Missouori Lottery smile favorably upon me. I'm thinking those gods are all Republicans so that realistically I don't stand a chance.
Re: GMO E. coli
Debi found a switch to turn off all the Glitz on her computer, so it doesn't shine into the bedroom at night, hi hi.
I won a Ford Mustang back when they were a new car on the market.
Talk about a White Elephant!
The deal was, I could not take in lieu of the car.
However, the dealer agreed to buy it back from me at it's wholesale value.
The reason I had to sell it back was the Winnings Tax on the car was like 46%.
So I had to sell the car to pay the Tax.
I still thought I did good until Income Tax time, when had to pay 26% of the Income from the sale of the car.
When the dust finally settled, I ended up with only around 600 dollars.
Actually less, because I also had State Income Tax which was like 6% is all at the time.
After that, I only entered contests where all the Taxes were included.
I've won a few things over the years that I kept and used, like a large upright freezer, twice the size of the one I already had.
A couple of cameras, and a 16 place setting set of Phaltzcraft dinnerware with all the extra bowls, cups, etc. As much hype as is made by Phaltzcraft, their dinnerware and dishes don't last very long.
They fall apart from many stress cracks way to easily, and way too soon too.
I won a Ford Mustang back when they were a new car on the market.
Talk about a White Elephant!
The deal was, I could not take in lieu of the car.
However, the dealer agreed to buy it back from me at it's wholesale value.
The reason I had to sell it back was the Winnings Tax on the car was like 46%.
So I had to sell the car to pay the Tax.
I still thought I did good until Income Tax time, when had to pay 26% of the Income from the sale of the car.
When the dust finally settled, I ended up with only around 600 dollars.
Actually less, because I also had State Income Tax which was like 6% is all at the time.
After that, I only entered contests where all the Taxes were included.
I've won a few things over the years that I kept and used, like a large upright freezer, twice the size of the one I already had.
A couple of cameras, and a 16 place setting set of Phaltzcraft dinnerware with all the extra bowls, cups, etc. As much hype as is made by Phaltzcraft, their dinnerware and dishes don't last very long.
They fall apart from many stress cracks way to easily, and way too soon too.
Re: GMO E. coli
This is an amazing posting. I distinctly recall composing a reply to it yesterday, but that reply is nowhere to be found today. I looked up Pfaltzgraff so that I could talk about it which is why I know I typed out a reply. I recall editing it too because I spelled Pfaltzgraff incorrectly. LOL Well I have no explanation for the missing reply. Most likely I did all that editing and simply did not hit the [ Submit ] button. Even that is a bit odd because I generally read over what I post before I close out the webpage. I'll just claim to have had a senior moment and leave it at that.
Pfaltzgraff looks like good dinnerware but it's not all that expensive. We have a set of ceramic dishes that was given to us as a wedding gift over 50 years ago. A few of those dishes developed a crack down the middle and eventually broke into pieces. I'm not sure if it's the dishwasher or the microwave that did it. Now we are using plastic dishes because they are light weight and wife's arthritis gives her problems with the heavier dishes. They say they are not micorwave safe. We also have some bone China that we use once ever few years for entertaining. Those dishes are even lighter than the plastic ones. They get washed by hand and never get nuked. I think they have metal embedded on their rims anyway.
Well the lotto drawing is tonight, not last night as I originally thought. I don't feel any luckier today than I usually do, but I will keep my end of the bargain if my horse comes in. Or the right balls drop into the bin.
Pfaltzgraff looks like good dinnerware but it's not all that expensive. We have a set of ceramic dishes that was given to us as a wedding gift over 50 years ago. A few of those dishes developed a crack down the middle and eventually broke into pieces. I'm not sure if it's the dishwasher or the microwave that did it. Now we are using plastic dishes because they are light weight and wife's arthritis gives her problems with the heavier dishes. They say they are not micorwave safe. We also have some bone China that we use once ever few years for entertaining. Those dishes are even lighter than the plastic ones. They get washed by hand and never get nuked. I think they have metal embedded on their rims anyway.
Well the lotto drawing is tonight, not last night as I originally thought. I don't feel any luckier today than I usually do, but I will keep my end of the bargain if my horse comes in. Or the right balls drop into the bin.
Re: GMO E. coli
I didn't look up how to spell it when I made my post, but I can tell you, it did not hold up for us at all.
It was nice to look at and use, while it lasted, since we were tired of seeing old Corningware plates, hi hi.
I had a full-compliment of IRON Cookware, loved using iron cookware. So did my late wife Ruth.
But Debi didn't like how heavy it was, and she has had Carpal Tunnel surgery, plus has arthritis, don't we all.
I have a few very expensive Magnalite roasting pans, and large pots. The large roasting pot has a rack inside, and nice lid. It developed a small crack about 30 years ago, but doesn't leak so we still use it. As far as the pots go, it seems we sold those before we moved back south. Debi picked out the pots and pans she liked best of all I had, most had glass lids with metal frames, and were copper core stainless steel. Not real light but lighter than cast iron, hi hi.
I estimate the Magnalite roasting pan to be well over 60 years old, heck maybe 75 years old, hi hi.
WOW, It looks like they still make them. Amazon has an original Magnalite like ours, for 300 bucks!
https://www.amazon.com/Magnalite-Classi ... 984&sr=8-5
Good Luck on your Lottery, hi hi.
My brother won like 5th prize on one of the Lottery drawings, it came to around 850 bucks.
He plays so many different ones, he's probably spent more than than on tickets, hi hi.
It was nice to look at and use, while it lasted, since we were tired of seeing old Corningware plates, hi hi.
I had a full-compliment of IRON Cookware, loved using iron cookware. So did my late wife Ruth.
But Debi didn't like how heavy it was, and she has had Carpal Tunnel surgery, plus has arthritis, don't we all.
I have a few very expensive Magnalite roasting pans, and large pots. The large roasting pot has a rack inside, and nice lid. It developed a small crack about 30 years ago, but doesn't leak so we still use it. As far as the pots go, it seems we sold those before we moved back south. Debi picked out the pots and pans she liked best of all I had, most had glass lids with metal frames, and were copper core stainless steel. Not real light but lighter than cast iron, hi hi.
I estimate the Magnalite roasting pan to be well over 60 years old, heck maybe 75 years old, hi hi.
WOW, It looks like they still make them. Amazon has an original Magnalite like ours, for 300 bucks!
https://www.amazon.com/Magnalite-Classi ... 984&sr=8-5
Good Luck on your Lottery, hi hi.
My brother won like 5th prize on one of the Lottery drawings, it came to around 850 bucks.
He plays so many different ones, he's probably spent more than than on tickets, hi hi.
Re: GMO E. coli
My mom left me a cast aluminum roaster with a glass cover similar in size and shape to the Magnalites. The roaster is heavy duty and all they did was grind the bottom of it flat. It's not brushed aluminum. I don't know how long she owned it or from where she got it, but it certainly is antique. I recall her roasting chickens, ducks, and turkeys in that pan, but I've only used it a few times for braised short ribs. I don't do a lot of roasting, especially not in summer when it gets to be 100+ degrees, such as it is today.
I still have one Corningware serving platter from back in the old days. I use it mostly to serve pizza on Saturday nights, but that depends on the shape of the pizza. I seldom can get them to be round and even an oval isn't easy for me. Most of them are irregular shaped. They look odd but taste great.
The bad news is that nobody won the lotto last night. The good news is it's estimate payout next Tuesday is $670 million. We have won more with those scratch off tickets than we have from the main lottos. I think I won the Mega Millions one time for $20 or some such small amount. I thought it was only going to pay for the price of a new ticket at first, but when I cashed it in they told me it had some kind of multiplier and brought the payout up a few times. I guess you can add that multiplier by paying an extra dollar or two for the ticket. It would just boggle my mind to win $670 million x 3. The real boggling part would be having to give so much of it back for taxes. I don't know if I'll make it over to Schnucks to buy a ticket before Tuesday, but I"d sure feel bad if somebody in MO won and it wasn't me. LOL
I still have one Corningware serving platter from back in the old days. I use it mostly to serve pizza on Saturday nights, but that depends on the shape of the pizza. I seldom can get them to be round and even an oval isn't easy for me. Most of them are irregular shaped. They look odd but taste great.
The bad news is that nobody won the lotto last night. The good news is it's estimate payout next Tuesday is $670 million. We have won more with those scratch off tickets than we have from the main lottos. I think I won the Mega Millions one time for $20 or some such small amount. I thought it was only going to pay for the price of a new ticket at first, but when I cashed it in they told me it had some kind of multiplier and brought the payout up a few times. I guess you can add that multiplier by paying an extra dollar or two for the ticket. It would just boggle my mind to win $670 million x 3. The real boggling part would be having to give so much of it back for taxes. I don't know if I'll make it over to Schnucks to buy a ticket before Tuesday, but I"d sure feel bad if somebody in MO won and it wasn't me. LOL
Re: GMO E. coli
The original Magnalite cookware like the one I have is made of a Magnesium/Aluminum Alloy, the the reason for the name.
I was actually surprised when I bought a car once that had Mag Wheels. Or that is what they claimed anyhow.
I'm actually afraid of Magnesium, especially for wheels on a car. I bought some neat looking Aluminum wheels with some Magnesium in it.
My fear was, if I ever had a blowout at high speed, the heat from the friction of Magnesium sliding on a concrete highway would ignite the Magnesium, and there is no way to put it out once it is burning.
As a trucker, we had a few of the old Magnesium Flares, they were ten times brighter than a common emergency flare.
Then they outlawed the ones with Magnesium in them, or at least I think they outlawed some, like the ones we had.
The one brand new truck I drove had those large triangles that light up using some type of chemical. I would guess similar to those glo-sticks where you break the glass vial inside. These didn't exactly work that way though. When you opened the tri-pod part on the back, they would light up, and were really bright. This was before LEDs were invented, and there were no batteries, but I do know they had liquid in them because my seat bouncing up and down broke the corner off one and made an sticky mess inside the truck behind my seat. I actually hated those air-cushion ride seats, every small bump you hit, the seat was like riding in a boat on choppy water. Then they changed to using an air-piston seat which was much better. More like an office chair. A little bounce if you hit a pot-hole, but normally they rode smooth and comfortable.
We still have some huge Corningware platters also, plus several with holiday decorations on them.
I liked the old way they did the Lottery, so they didn't build up to such large amounts. That way more people would win.
The way it worked, there was always four or more winners in each drawing. If you got all the numbers right, you would win the jackpot, so there could be a couple of times where no-one won the big jackpot, but if they didn't have a big winner, the lesser winners got a bit more. Let's say there were 5 numbers to win. But also 4 numbers, and 3 numbers would also win lesser amounts. But the amount depended on how many winners had the lesser numbers also. They never let the winning amount go over 10 million. If it hit the cap, the lesser winner amounts got raised to burn up the excess funds.
I remember we had a Pick-3, a Pick-4, and a Pick-5 separate Lotteries, plus the Mega-Lottery with the 10 million cap.
I know folks who would buy an entire roll of scratch-offs, some as high as 30 bucks a ticket, and rarely if ever did they make back half of what they spent. But someone had to hit the big one on the scratch-offs.
On the 5 buck a ticket scratch offs, one sold by a restaurant we visited had at least 3 10 grand winners all within 1 year, and a whole lot of 5k winners as well.
When they changed from having them on a roll, to in folded stacks, when the owner was loading the bins he kept them in, when he hit a stack that was not continuous, he would buy the ten tickets either side of the split himself, thinking the split might be because they had to get a big winner in there. He was wrong, hi hi.
He also kept track of how far down in a stack one of the big winners might have come from. So he bought a few of those too and never won anything, not even a free card, hi hi.
I was actually surprised when I bought a car once that had Mag Wheels. Or that is what they claimed anyhow.
I'm actually afraid of Magnesium, especially for wheels on a car. I bought some neat looking Aluminum wheels with some Magnesium in it.
My fear was, if I ever had a blowout at high speed, the heat from the friction of Magnesium sliding on a concrete highway would ignite the Magnesium, and there is no way to put it out once it is burning.
As a trucker, we had a few of the old Magnesium Flares, they were ten times brighter than a common emergency flare.
Then they outlawed the ones with Magnesium in them, or at least I think they outlawed some, like the ones we had.
The one brand new truck I drove had those large triangles that light up using some type of chemical. I would guess similar to those glo-sticks where you break the glass vial inside. These didn't exactly work that way though. When you opened the tri-pod part on the back, they would light up, and were really bright. This was before LEDs were invented, and there were no batteries, but I do know they had liquid in them because my seat bouncing up and down broke the corner off one and made an sticky mess inside the truck behind my seat. I actually hated those air-cushion ride seats, every small bump you hit, the seat was like riding in a boat on choppy water. Then they changed to using an air-piston seat which was much better. More like an office chair. A little bounce if you hit a pot-hole, but normally they rode smooth and comfortable.
We still have some huge Corningware platters also, plus several with holiday decorations on them.
I liked the old way they did the Lottery, so they didn't build up to such large amounts. That way more people would win.
The way it worked, there was always four or more winners in each drawing. If you got all the numbers right, you would win the jackpot, so there could be a couple of times where no-one won the big jackpot, but if they didn't have a big winner, the lesser winners got a bit more. Let's say there were 5 numbers to win. But also 4 numbers, and 3 numbers would also win lesser amounts. But the amount depended on how many winners had the lesser numbers also. They never let the winning amount go over 10 million. If it hit the cap, the lesser winner amounts got raised to burn up the excess funds.
I remember we had a Pick-3, a Pick-4, and a Pick-5 separate Lotteries, plus the Mega-Lottery with the 10 million cap.
I know folks who would buy an entire roll of scratch-offs, some as high as 30 bucks a ticket, and rarely if ever did they make back half of what they spent. But someone had to hit the big one on the scratch-offs.
On the 5 buck a ticket scratch offs, one sold by a restaurant we visited had at least 3 10 grand winners all within 1 year, and a whole lot of 5k winners as well.
When they changed from having them on a roll, to in folded stacks, when the owner was loading the bins he kept them in, when he hit a stack that was not continuous, he would buy the ten tickets either side of the split himself, thinking the split might be because they had to get a big winner in there. He was wrong, hi hi.
He also kept track of how far down in a stack one of the big winners might have come from. So he bought a few of those too and never won anything, not even a free card, hi hi.
Re: GMO E. coli
Not too long ago I viewed a video of a guy taking apart a lithium battery. It looked exactly like the AA cells I have in my outdoor weather station. They recommend lithium because they still operate at temperatures below zero. Anyway, this guy had something like a pipe cutter where he cut the outer metal cover of the battery and just pulled the ends off. Doing that exposed a roll of what must have been lithium coated with something to create the electron migration. it must have unwound a good four feet or more. Then he walked over to what looked like a large bowl from a birdbath that was filled with water. He dropped the lithium foil into it and ran back quickly. The foil ignited and flared up brilliantly. It looked like all the water evaporated and whatever that bowl was made of melted. The moral of that story is that lithium does not like water.
I was wrong about the lotto payout number. It's actually up to $760 million. That's about 33 million each of the next 20 years which I think is the payout time they use for that number. I'm not going to be around in twenty years, and even if I am I don't expect to be in shape to spend $33 million per year. So, should I win I 'll just take the lump sum and be happy with it. Actually I'd be happy with $100 payout. LOL Anyway, I want to know what kind of annuity they buy that will return $33 million per year. That annuity is invested in something and I want to buy that something if it pays out that well.
I was wrong about the lotto payout number. It's actually up to $760 million. That's about 33 million each of the next 20 years which I think is the payout time they use for that number. I'm not going to be around in twenty years, and even if I am I don't expect to be in shape to spend $33 million per year. So, should I win I 'll just take the lump sum and be happy with it. Actually I'd be happy with $100 payout. LOL Anyway, I want to know what kind of annuity they buy that will return $33 million per year. That annuity is invested in something and I want to buy that something if it pays out that well.
Re: GMO E. coli
Ironically, dumping lithium batteries in the trash is how a few landfill fires started. Which is why it is now illegal to throw them away. But folks still do! I took all of my batteries to Radio Shack when they were in business, now my wife takes them to work with her and Ace Hardware has a company that picks up their bin about once every three months.
The lady back home who won the 25 million dollar jackpot, within like 4 years, she was flat broke again, and had to sell her house. Heck, if I ever had that much money, I would surely invest a good portion of it so I had a steady monthly income, and then buy some nice things, but I wouldn't go overboard on a house, because the cost of keeping them keeps going up in leaps and bounds every year. So when the phun money runs out, and you have to live off your invested money, it should be able to cover everything you need until you die.
The lady back home who won the 25 million dollar jackpot, within like 4 years, she was flat broke again, and had to sell her house. Heck, if I ever had that much money, I would surely invest a good portion of it so I had a steady monthly income, and then buy some nice things, but I wouldn't go overboard on a house, because the cost of keeping them keeps going up in leaps and bounds every year. So when the phun money runs out, and you have to live off your invested money, it should be able to cover everything you need until you die.
Re: GMO E. coli
I didn't realize dumping lithium batteries was illegal, but it certainly should be. Lithium is weird stuff. They used to call the soda which is today 7-Up, Lithiated Soda because it had lithium in it. That same lithium today is a prescription drug used to treat things like anxiety. I'm pretty sure we had some lithium in my high school chemistry class. It was sitting in a liquid but not water. Sodium, I believe, was also in that collection of chemicals and if memory serves me right it too was submersed in some kind of liquid.
I've read about a few people who won big money and went broke. You would think that might be pretty hard to do, but it's not when you lack foresight. My plan would be very similar to yours in that I'd have an untouchable fund of some sort to generate an income I could live on. I'd have some reserve funds for things like house insurance and catastrophic illness. I'm pretty sure no more than $20 million set aside would be needed for that purpose. The rest I could blow one fine day in Vegas should I want to. I don't think I would go Hollywood class lifestyle, but I certainly would have my share of luxuries. I truly want that Bentley I keep talking about. LOL I've not decided on exactly the kind of home I'd luxuriate in, but a service staff seems like a good idea on this side of the poverty line. But, as you say, home maintenance can be a Money Pit with no measurable return. I'd have to think more about it should my lucky numbers come up.
I've read about a few people who won big money and went broke. You would think that might be pretty hard to do, but it's not when you lack foresight. My plan would be very similar to yours in that I'd have an untouchable fund of some sort to generate an income I could live on. I'd have some reserve funds for things like house insurance and catastrophic illness. I'm pretty sure no more than $20 million set aside would be needed for that purpose. The rest I could blow one fine day in Vegas should I want to. I don't think I would go Hollywood class lifestyle, but I certainly would have my share of luxuries. I truly want that Bentley I keep talking about. LOL I've not decided on exactly the kind of home I'd luxuriate in, but a service staff seems like a good idea on this side of the poverty line. But, as you say, home maintenance can be a Money Pit with no measurable return. I'd have to think more about it should my lucky numbers come up.
Re: GMO E. coli
When they first came out with Lithium batteries, the long cylindrical type.
After they were dead, we would take them apart and unroll the guts to get the Lithium foil.
Drop that in a pan of water and run like heck, because it will flare up like a magnesium bomb in less than 5 seconds.
If I won the Lottery I would build a small house and/or have someone finish this one considering my age.
Buy my wife a Red Mustang Convertible, around a 1974 era model, and myself a 57 Chevy.
I would also buy a a replica of some older car, like a REO, just to make heads turn, but it would have a modern drive train in it.
I would hire a landscaper and yard person to maintain my yard, and maybe a step and fetch-it to help me get the things done I want to get done before I croak.
I went to school with a guy named John Plein. Long after school was over, he was dating my cousin for a couple of years. When he asked her to marry him, she turned him down, which turned out to be a dumb thing to do.
His uncle, who owned a fairly large business passed away, and John ended up getting like 6 million bucks after taxes.
He was smart though and invested 5 million of it in blue chip stocks so he got a quarterly dividend of around 50,000 bucks.
He used 1 million to buy a modest house, nice car, a weekly housekeeper, and a lawn service. Plus had a young man he paid like 40 bucks a week just to do things for him after school like 3 days a week.
He just lounged around for about a year, then started helping other guys get into businesses that he thought would end up being profitable. More than half of them became very profitable. When he died, in his Will, he left 100,000 bucks to each graduating student from his old high school, those graduating in the year he died. Any money left over went to the school itself.
After they were dead, we would take them apart and unroll the guts to get the Lithium foil.
Drop that in a pan of water and run like heck, because it will flare up like a magnesium bomb in less than 5 seconds.
If I won the Lottery I would build a small house and/or have someone finish this one considering my age.
Buy my wife a Red Mustang Convertible, around a 1974 era model, and myself a 57 Chevy.
I would also buy a a replica of some older car, like a REO, just to make heads turn, but it would have a modern drive train in it.
I would hire a landscaper and yard person to maintain my yard, and maybe a step and fetch-it to help me get the things done I want to get done before I croak.
I went to school with a guy named John Plein. Long after school was over, he was dating my cousin for a couple of years. When he asked her to marry him, she turned him down, which turned out to be a dumb thing to do.
His uncle, who owned a fairly large business passed away, and John ended up getting like 6 million bucks after taxes.
He was smart though and invested 5 million of it in blue chip stocks so he got a quarterly dividend of around 50,000 bucks.
He used 1 million to buy a modest house, nice car, a weekly housekeeper, and a lawn service. Plus had a young man he paid like 40 bucks a week just to do things for him after school like 3 days a week.
He just lounged around for about a year, then started helping other guys get into businesses that he thought would end up being profitable. More than half of them became very profitable. When he died, in his Will, he left 100,000 bucks to each graduating student from his old high school, those graduating in the year he died. Any money left over went to the school itself.
Re: GMO E. coli
I have a few lithium batteries which are dead on my workbench. I only use them in the weather station and they last about two years so that I have not accumulated a lot of them. But, I hesitate to toss them in the trash as I often do with the carbon batteries. I know I should recycle those too, but I get lazy. And that is the problem with the lithium batteries. I feel morally responsible to dispose of them properly, but a few people I found that will do it want me to pay them for the luxury. I believe there was a place run by the state of Illinois that took batteries, but it was nearly a two hour drive from where I lived. So, needless to say, a lot of batteries got tossed out with last night's leftovers.
I found an ad yesterday for a wrist watch of astronomical proportions. That is the price was astronomical: $450,000. Some famous company I did not recognize made them and they had a lot of astronomical type movements on the face. That is about the price of the Bentley I have my eye on but nowhere near as practical. When I blow all my money at the Baccarat table in Vegas I would be looking for things I could sell to become solvent again. I doubt that I could get much for the watch if I could find any buyers at all. The Bentley, however, retains its value for quite a while. I'm not sure I could sell it in the STL area, but I know I could sell it close to what it costs to buy. It's that kind of spending that most inexperienced people would do if they won the lottery.
The amount of the jackpot I won would determine how much of a philanthropist I would be. Setting you up with a backup computer isn't so difficult even for a guy on fixed income, but I'd need quite a few millions for me to feel that I could spare a few to help out some truly needy folks. I keep thinking of that TV show we used to watch, The Millionaire. The millionaire, who you never saw in the show, would hand out a million bucks tax free and then track what each person did with it. That made for some very interesting programming, but it would be even more interesting to see it in real life. The only problem I see with that kind of scheme is the one we just talked about. Some poor really in need schmuck would blow it all in a few days and be no further ahead for his good fortune. Be that all as it may, anonymously giving away large sums of cash would be part of the plan if I could do it.
I found an ad yesterday for a wrist watch of astronomical proportions. That is the price was astronomical: $450,000. Some famous company I did not recognize made them and they had a lot of astronomical type movements on the face. That is about the price of the Bentley I have my eye on but nowhere near as practical. When I blow all my money at the Baccarat table in Vegas I would be looking for things I could sell to become solvent again. I doubt that I could get much for the watch if I could find any buyers at all. The Bentley, however, retains its value for quite a while. I'm not sure I could sell it in the STL area, but I know I could sell it close to what it costs to buy. It's that kind of spending that most inexperienced people would do if they won the lottery.
The amount of the jackpot I won would determine how much of a philanthropist I would be. Setting you up with a backup computer isn't so difficult even for a guy on fixed income, but I'd need quite a few millions for me to feel that I could spare a few to help out some truly needy folks. I keep thinking of that TV show we used to watch, The Millionaire. The millionaire, who you never saw in the show, would hand out a million bucks tax free and then track what each person did with it. That made for some very interesting programming, but it would be even more interesting to see it in real life. The only problem I see with that kind of scheme is the one we just talked about. Some poor really in need schmuck would blow it all in a few days and be no further ahead for his good fortune. Be that all as it may, anonymously giving away large sums of cash would be part of the plan if I could do it.
Re: GMO E. coli
I have two boxes here for putting ONLY Lithium batteries in. Both are thin tin, about like an old Band-Aid box or Sucrets tin, but more than twice the size of the Band-Aid box. One came from Beltone hearing-aid company many years ago, and the other came from Radio Shack about 10 years ago. Both are lined with black sponge-like pads for you to place your batteries in.
The weight of the Beltone box empty with the pads in place is also stamped into the cover. So I assume at one time, Beltone must have weighed the box when you brought it in and paid you a little bit for the old batteries.
The recycling center where we take our aluminum cans to, they also have a box out in the middle of the parking lot, looks almost like a small steel dumpster, with a big sign on each side, Batteries Only. I do think they will pay you for certain batteries if you have enough of them to make it worthwhile. We make a bundle for our aluminum cans here, probably because we are only a few miles from the Alcoa Smelter.
I used to have a 200k investment in General Mills, which paid me around 125 bucks every quarter. I know, that's mighty low for that much of an investment, when a few other places you could around 600 bucks every quarter.
However, 200k is NOT what I initially invested, it was more like only 50k, and that was done over time too, starting when I was like 10 years old. By the time I was 16, I almost cashed in to buy a new car, but dad talked me out of it. Sorta a good thing because the stock split twice by the time I was 21. And that's about when I started getting a dividend every quarter.
But it was all water over the dam. When my first wife split, one of the things in our divorce settlement was she got the stock, which I thought was only about 50k worth. Turns out when the lawyer did the paperwork it showed the value as being around 200k. Plus she got my 50th Anniversary Special Edition Trans Am and I got the payment book to finish off the last few payments.
I do know she cashed it in, bought a mobile home, and reinvested the rest in something that failed. I call that Karma, hi hi.
The weight of the Beltone box empty with the pads in place is also stamped into the cover. So I assume at one time, Beltone must have weighed the box when you brought it in and paid you a little bit for the old batteries.
The recycling center where we take our aluminum cans to, they also have a box out in the middle of the parking lot, looks almost like a small steel dumpster, with a big sign on each side, Batteries Only. I do think they will pay you for certain batteries if you have enough of them to make it worthwhile. We make a bundle for our aluminum cans here, probably because we are only a few miles from the Alcoa Smelter.
I used to have a 200k investment in General Mills, which paid me around 125 bucks every quarter. I know, that's mighty low for that much of an investment, when a few other places you could around 600 bucks every quarter.
However, 200k is NOT what I initially invested, it was more like only 50k, and that was done over time too, starting when I was like 10 years old. By the time I was 16, I almost cashed in to buy a new car, but dad talked me out of it. Sorta a good thing because the stock split twice by the time I was 21. And that's about when I started getting a dividend every quarter.
But it was all water over the dam. When my first wife split, one of the things in our divorce settlement was she got the stock, which I thought was only about 50k worth. Turns out when the lawyer did the paperwork it showed the value as being around 200k. Plus she got my 50th Anniversary Special Edition Trans Am and I got the payment book to finish off the last few payments.
I do know she cashed it in, bought a mobile home, and reinvested the rest in something that failed. I call that Karma, hi hi.
Re: GMO E. coli
I like the image in my mind regarding that Beltone casket for dead batteries. I didn't think hearing aid batteries were worth recycling given their small size, but apparently there is more to them than I thought. For some reason Beltone has me in their cross hairs. I get junk mail from them all the time mostly from one store here in town. They are a popular company and make some decent hearing aids, but there were several other companies in my old neighborhood from which I could choose to buy such devices. It turns out that most of those other companies had proprietary circuitry built into their devices. This gave them special features, but it also assured that you can't get them adjusted anywhere but at the original place of purchase. If they go out of business, good luck with service. Back when mom had to have a hearing aid I didn't hear much good about Beltone other than that from a salesperson I knew who worked there. I got the impression that they were like stuff you could buy at Radio Shack. It worked well but wasn't the highest quality design.
in general there are three kinds of investments people have in mind when they buy stocks. One strategy is to buy stocks you think will appreciate in price over time. Dividends are non-existent or very small in those kind of companies. Then there are those financial instruments you buy to retain value and they generally have the best dividends. Bonds would be a classic example of such an investment. And, then there are the myriad of speculative stocks that are not easily characterized. Some of them are sleepers that invest in yet to be invented technology, for example. Buy into them when they are cheap and when the technology is available landslide profits are typical. Or, they go bankrupt first. LOL My millions of lotto dollars, which I did not win yet again, would go into bonds and mutual funds. The funds are best for inexperienced investors such as myself. They have a general strategy and buy a ton of stocks designed to meet those stated goals. Professionals manage the fund for a fee and the best part is the diversity. One stock could crash and burn while others do very well. The net results is the average performance which typically meets the stated purpose of the fund. A certain amount would be in bonds which are more or less guaranteed to hold their value. Prices there vary depending on current interest rates vs what the bond interest rate happens to be. You can 'get some wild swings in the market price, but in the end at maturity you will get the face value of the bond regardless.
Well, maybe next time ...
in general there are three kinds of investments people have in mind when they buy stocks. One strategy is to buy stocks you think will appreciate in price over time. Dividends are non-existent or very small in those kind of companies. Then there are those financial instruments you buy to retain value and they generally have the best dividends. Bonds would be a classic example of such an investment. And, then there are the myriad of speculative stocks that are not easily characterized. Some of them are sleepers that invest in yet to be invented technology, for example. Buy into them when they are cheap and when the technology is available landslide profits are typical. Or, they go bankrupt first. LOL My millions of lotto dollars, which I did not win yet again, would go into bonds and mutual funds. The funds are best for inexperienced investors such as myself. They have a general strategy and buy a ton of stocks designed to meet those stated goals. Professionals manage the fund for a fee and the best part is the diversity. One stock could crash and burn while others do very well. The net results is the average performance which typically meets the stated purpose of the fund. A certain amount would be in bonds which are more or less guaranteed to hold their value. Prices there vary depending on current interest rates vs what the bond interest rate happens to be. You can 'get some wild swings in the market price, but in the end at maturity you will get the face value of the bond regardless.
Well, maybe next time ...
Re: GMO E. coli
My grandpa had to use hearing aids. He used to buy batteries for them by the carton. He kept old glass ketchup bottles to put all the used ones in, then he would place a rubber stopper in the end and the metal cap over that and crank it down. He would tie a piece of thread around the bottle and lower them down into an old dry well. That's also where he put the stuff he cleaned out of the chicken coops since they next to it. Ironically, the particular old well never did get full to the top, before they back-filled over it.
Almost forgot what I was going to tell you about grandpa's hearing aids. His first couple of sets cost an ever lovin' fortune, and he was never really happy with them. He saw an ad once for a pair for only 39.95 and thought, what the heck, I'll give them a try, knowing there were simply cheap amplifiers. Ironically, the batteries lasted four times longer, and he could hear much better with them, albeit with a slight bit of more static and background noises, which he didn't mind. And that is all he wore until the day he died too.
My grandpa on my dads side, bought stock in nearly every new movie company that sprung up. Unfortunately, he was bad at picking the ones that might make a go of it. He never hit on any of those that made it big, hi hi. I think a couple did fairly well for a while, then faded into the woodwork. At least one he had was bought out by a larger movie company, so he made a little bit off of that one, but never enough to say he did good.
I did have one uncle who invested in a new start-up company, a company who made Roto-Dies, back when flat dies were popular. It was a good investment and he eventually ended up owning the place, and became a millionaire many times over. He never did share the wealth though, hi hi.
Almost forgot what I was going to tell you about grandpa's hearing aids. His first couple of sets cost an ever lovin' fortune, and he was never really happy with them. He saw an ad once for a pair for only 39.95 and thought, what the heck, I'll give them a try, knowing there were simply cheap amplifiers. Ironically, the batteries lasted four times longer, and he could hear much better with them, albeit with a slight bit of more static and background noises, which he didn't mind. And that is all he wore until the day he died too.
My grandpa on my dads side, bought stock in nearly every new movie company that sprung up. Unfortunately, he was bad at picking the ones that might make a go of it. He never hit on any of those that made it big, hi hi. I think a couple did fairly well for a while, then faded into the woodwork. At least one he had was bought out by a larger movie company, so he made a little bit off of that one, but never enough to say he did good.
I did have one uncle who invested in a new start-up company, a company who made Roto-Dies, back when flat dies were popular. It was a good investment and he eventually ended up owning the place, and became a millionaire many times over. He never did share the wealth though, hi hi.
Re: GMO E. coli
There is an average human ear response curve. It's truly average because I don't think anybody actually hears the way the curve is drawn. For the longest time I figured that hearing curve was pretty flat, but it's not. Part of the reason is that different parts of the ear respond to different frequencies. When you get a hearing aid they measure your particular hearing response and try to build an amplifier, hearing aid, to bring your response up to the level of the ideal curve. For many people that doesn't work because they are used to hearing something different as being normal. Thus when you use a linear amp in place of the hearing aid, as your grandpa did, it actually sounds better than those tuned hearing aids. The linear amp does not fill in the low spots. It simply amplifies your bad hearing to a point that is acceptable. The hearing aid people finally figured that out and now offer digital hearing aides that can be adjusted using a hand held remote control device. It works similar to an equalizer where you can store customized filters to suit various sound environments. Last time I checked a pair would be about 10 grand. 
It looks like I won't be burdened trying to figure out the best way to invest my millions. We got 5 tickets for three days worth of drawings and not even a consolation prize was forthcoming.
It looks like I won't be burdened trying to figure out the best way to invest my millions. We got 5 tickets for three days worth of drawings and not even a consolation prize was forthcoming.
Re: GMO E. coli
I have no hearing in a range where little girls screaming I can't hear, nor can I hear those beeps from the computer or piazo crystal driven sound items. In a way, that is a good thing.
The one and only time I tried a hearing aid, it didn't amply anything, it just changed the frequency of the sounds I couldn't hear down to a frequency I heard easily.
I wore it for the entire month trial period, and never liked it one bit the entire time. I went in like every three days at first, then once a week for them to make changes to it.
I listened to a lot of music back then, and the music sounded right without the hearing aid in, but with it, it was like everything was distorted to the max.
On the bright side, it didn't cost me anything at all, other than my time. But if I did like it, the pair was like 4 grand at that time, and my insurance would have paid about 3 grand of that, if I chose to keep them.
Sorry you didn't win the Lottery!
The one and only time I tried a hearing aid, it didn't amply anything, it just changed the frequency of the sounds I couldn't hear down to a frequency I heard easily.
I wore it for the entire month trial period, and never liked it one bit the entire time. I went in like every three days at first, then once a week for them to make changes to it.
I listened to a lot of music back then, and the music sounded right without the hearing aid in, but with it, it was like everything was distorted to the max.
On the bright side, it didn't cost me anything at all, other than my time. But if I did like it, the pair was like 4 grand at that time, and my insurance would have paid about 3 grand of that, if I chose to keep them.
Sorry you didn't win the Lottery!
Re: GMO E. coli
Didn't win the lotto, BUT ...
Tonight's drawing is for 1.1 Billion dollars
And, yes, we have a ticket.
This computer has a Realistik audio circuit with some fancy software driving it. There are a ton of sound effects that can be applied mostly to satisfy gamers who are not familiar with normal hearing. There is also a bunch of presets for the equalizer, such as for music, audio, and whatnot. One setting is customizable with about ten bands of frequency that can be set individually. I played with that a lot to get the best sound I could for music with a vocalist. I could hear the words clearly and distinctly, but then a music track without audio sounded terrible. Likewise I could boost the bass and shake up my desktop, but then audio became unintelligible. So, I ended up tuning it for the kind of music I listen to most and take the distortion that some voice/videos produce. The voice distortion depends on whose voice it is too. The lesson learned is that there is no universal setting that can be used in hearing aids and cover all circumstances. That's why those linear amplifiers are preferred. They simply make the bad hearing louder, but it is more acceptable to the brain. I need a hearing aid, for sure, but I hesitate to go through the exercise knowing what is involved and how unlikely it is to get something affordable AND useful.
Tonight's drawing is for 1.1 Billion dollars
And, yes, we have a ticket.
This computer has a Realistik audio circuit with some fancy software driving it. There are a ton of sound effects that can be applied mostly to satisfy gamers who are not familiar with normal hearing. There is also a bunch of presets for the equalizer, such as for music, audio, and whatnot. One setting is customizable with about ten bands of frequency that can be set individually. I played with that a lot to get the best sound I could for music with a vocalist. I could hear the words clearly and distinctly, but then a music track without audio sounded terrible. Likewise I could boost the bass and shake up my desktop, but then audio became unintelligible. So, I ended up tuning it for the kind of music I listen to most and take the distortion that some voice/videos produce. The voice distortion depends on whose voice it is too. The lesson learned is that there is no universal setting that can be used in hearing aids and cover all circumstances. That's why those linear amplifiers are preferred. They simply make the bad hearing louder, but it is more acceptable to the brain. I need a hearing aid, for sure, but I hesitate to go through the exercise knowing what is involved and how unlikely it is to get something affordable AND useful.
Re: GMO E. coli
I had a cool sound card in one of my computers eons ago. Don't remember the name, it was on Windows XP and had all the setting you are talking about. Pair that up with a set of speakers from the stereo system and you could rattle the rafters, hi hi.
Radio Shack, back in the days of Knightkit, and Allied electronics, they too carried all kinds of hearing aids. Everything from behind the ear to in the ear, and even ones that fit on the end of your glasses. I don't think any of them were over like 30 bucks back in the 60s and 70s.
My great-grandmother on my mom's side, had what was called a hearing horn. Looked like a rams horn too, only hers was black and probably made from Ebony wood with brass ring at the top and silver ring for her ear end of the unit.
Many years ago, when I was probably around 19 or so, around the time Aluminum Dish Sleds were popular, before they started making them with plastic. We took an old aluminum dish sled and turned it into a BIG EAR. We must have done it right, because we could hear my aunts talking on their front porch as clear as if they were sitting next to us.
No electronics were involved in making it. Just a funnel with a garden hose section stuck to the end of the hose, and two smaller hoses stuck in the other end of the hose for our ears.
If I recall, we just taped three wooden slats to the edge of the sled forming a tepee with the funnel held in place with more tape wrapped around it and the slats. We had to move the funnel up and down a bit to get the loudest sound, then we taped it in place. Now you can buy things like that as toys.
Radio Shack, back in the days of Knightkit, and Allied electronics, they too carried all kinds of hearing aids. Everything from behind the ear to in the ear, and even ones that fit on the end of your glasses. I don't think any of them were over like 30 bucks back in the 60s and 70s.
My great-grandmother on my mom's side, had what was called a hearing horn. Looked like a rams horn too, only hers was black and probably made from Ebony wood with brass ring at the top and silver ring for her ear end of the unit.
Many years ago, when I was probably around 19 or so, around the time Aluminum Dish Sleds were popular, before they started making them with plastic. We took an old aluminum dish sled and turned it into a BIG EAR. We must have done it right, because we could hear my aunts talking on their front porch as clear as if they were sitting next to us.
No electronics were involved in making it. Just a funnel with a garden hose section stuck to the end of the hose, and two smaller hoses stuck in the other end of the hose for our ears.
If I recall, we just taped three wooden slats to the edge of the sled forming a tepee with the funnel held in place with more tape wrapped around it and the slats. We had to move the funnel up and down a bit to get the loudest sound, then we taped it in place. Now you can buy things like that as toys.