Muggles wrote:
On 8/29/2015 11:08 AM, Don Y wrote:
On 8/29/2015 5:04 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
On 8/29/2015 1:14 AM, Tony Hwang wrote:

People are getting dumber, robots are getting smarter I think. Go to a
bank and see young tellers can't even add two simple numbers without
calcutor.

I like to hand the clerks paper money plus some
coins. Make their lives easier. I calculate the
change in my head, they use the cash register.

Most likely they would be lost without the screen.

I've found that, more often than not, their first instinct
is to hand the coins *back* to me. Especially if the tab is
$X.17 and you hand them $X.42... all those coins (4 dimes and
two pennies) seem like "way too much".

*Some* folks will hand me back two dimes (i.e. $X.22 yielding a
nickel change) and I'll suggest that I'd prefer to have a quarter
as change, instead of a *nickel*.

Regardless, when their eyes glaze over, I tell them, "Just type
it in and let the MACHINE do your thinking for you..." in a
mildly disgusted tone.

OTOH, when I encounter someone who actually knows how to
count change *back* to me, I make a point of drawing attention
to that fact: "Ah, someone who knows how to COUNT CHANGE!!"
with a broad smile.



I think a person has to be at least 45 to remember how to COUNT CHANGE!

Since we don't have pennies up here any more, any change is rounded.
Created a huge confusion amongst cashiers. When item is charged
by CC or debit, we still count pennies to exact amount.

Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
On 08/29/2015 08:04 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:

People are getting dumber, robots are getting smarter I think. Go to a
bank and see young tellers can't even add two simple numbers without
calcutor.

I like to hand the clerks paper money plus some
coins. Make their lives easier. I calculate the
change in my head, they use the cash register.

Most likely they would be lost without the screen.

Some twenty years ago in Taiwan we used to go to a supermarket that had
fancy electronic cash registers, on top of which were sitting abacuses
(abaci?). If anyone disputed the total, they checked it with the abacus.

Perce

I learned how to use abacus in HS economics class. At the early stage of
electronic calculator, abacus was faster than calculator. Some could do
calculations fast playing abacus in his brain.

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 05:37:40 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

one day a cyber attack will take the internet off line, and kill our economy.

everything is networked even traffic lights, the power grid is controlled by the net. take out the power grid will cause a cascade failure, taking out water plants etc

Always have a backup plan. We go back to the Pony Express or Native
American smoke signals Know where to collect water, where to feed the
animals, how to build a fire and talk of the old days of life when
stuff was easy.

Mick Dodge has it figured out, if you watch _The Legend of Mick Dodge_
on Nat Geo.

On 8/29/2015 5:37 AM, bob haller wrote:
one day a cyber attack will take the internet off line, and kill our
economy.

everything is networked even traffic lights, the power grid is controlled by
the net. take out the power grid will cause a cascade failure, taking out
water plants etc

I don't think you have to even worry about a *deliberate* attack.
So many of these systems are designed "on a whim" and without
*real* concern for reliability, security, etc. that it's a wonder
they work at all!

The IoT will be a real eye-opener (iOpener?? You heard it here, first,
folks! : ) for many people -- when they see the consequences of
poor quality in ubiquitous designs... designs that are *tightly*
integrated with their daily living!

The push to external servers, The Cloud, etc. means more and more
things will quit at inopportune times. "Our server is down; we're
sorry you can't open your garage door. Please check back in an
hour or so..."

Oren wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 05:37:40 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

one day a cyber attack will take the internet off line, and kill our economy.

everything is networked even traffic lights, the power grid is controlled by the net. take out the power grid will cause a cascade failure, taking out water plants etc

Always have a backup plan. We go back to the Pony Express or Native
American smoke signals Know where to collect water, where to feed the
animals, how to build a fire and talk of the old days of life when
stuff was easy.

Mick Dodge has it figured out, if you watch _The Legend of Mick Dodge_
on Nat Geo.

I have survival training during the time in Boy scout and military
service, LOL!

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 14:18:40 -0600, Tony Hwang
wrote:

Oren wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 05:37:40 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

one day a cyber attack will take the internet off line, and kill our economy.

everything is networked even traffic lights, the power grid is controlled by the net. take out the power grid will cause a cascade failure, taking out water plants etc

Always have a backup plan. We go back to the Pony Express or Native
American smoke signals Know where to collect water, where to feed the
animals, how to build a fire and talk of the old days of life when
stuff was easy.

Mick Dodge has it figured out, if you watch _The Legend of Mick Dodge_
on Nat Geo.

I have survival training during the time in Boy scout and military
service, LOL!

Yep.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/the-legend-of-mick-dodge/

~30 Years in a rain forest. A Military veteran.

taxed and spent posted for all of us...



"Pavel314" wrote in message
...
I was down in the basement watering the mushrooms this evening and noticed
that the water pressure (we're on a well) was a bit low. I asked my wife if
she'd left the sprinkler on the garden and she had, so she went out and
turned it off.

I wondered if there was some sort of device that would detect water flowing
from the outside faucet and light a warning light in the house if the water
were left on. Maybe something that fits onto the faucet with the hose
connecting to the detector gizmo. Flowing water would lower the pressure in
the line and flip a switch to turn on the light.

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Paul

----------------------

I have often wondered if there was some site on the web where you could just
type in something like "water flow sensor" and have it give you a list of
relevant web sites.

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

+1

--
Tekkie

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 10:33:00 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

I suppose most people don't know the the ancient Chinese invented the first pocket calculator. ^_^


They same people that built a great wall to keep foreign invaders and
heathens out.

On 8/29/2015 10:50 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 07:59:34 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 8/28/2015 10:56 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:


I was at a historical site at the same time a bunch of high school
kids were. A girl asked me what time it was. A quarter after eleven
meant nothing to her. Eleven fifteen made sense.


Did you tell her you'd inform her at the
bottom of the hour?

Kids just look at this clock and scratch their heads.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/clock.jpg


I'm good with that. Five past twelve. But then,
know that I'm almost a senior citizen.

Wonder if they can handle a rotary dial phone?

-
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On 8/29/2015 8:37 AM, bob haller wrote:



one day a cyber attack will take the internet off line, and kill our economy.

everything is networked even traffic lights, the power grid is controlled by the net. take out the power grid will cause a cascade failure, taking out water plants etc


Sadly, there are enough folks in the world who
would love to shut down the Great Satan. I can
easily believe it will happen one day soon.

--
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On 8/29/2015 10:44 AM, Uncle Monster wrote:
I'd be more worried about an EMP attack which could
knock out all non-hardened solid state electronic and
computer systems. I'm not sure about old tube type
gear but about 20 years ago, I spoke with a gal who
was a veteran of The Army Signal Corps and she told
me that the Army still had some tube type communications
equipment because it wasn't affected by EMP. I can
see quite a calamity after an EMP knocks out all the
AC units and people may have to start talking to each
other after their smartphones burn out. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle EMP Monster


With the smart phones out, there will be a lot of
teen agers wondering what to do. I guess I could take
in a dozen or so co-eds and keep em entertained for
a few days. It would be my duty as a citizen, of
course.


-
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 19:37:51 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 8/29/2015 10:50 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 07:59:34 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 8/28/2015 10:56 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:


I was at a historical site at the same time a bunch of high school
kids were. A girl asked me what time it was. A quarter after eleven
meant nothing to her. Eleven fifteen made sense.


Did you tell her you'd inform her at the
bottom of the hour?

Kids just look at this clock and scratch their heads.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/clock.jpg


I'm good with that. Five past twelve. But then,
know that I'm almost a senior citizen.

Wonder if they can handle a rotary dial phone?


I have a few of those too

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/bar.jpg

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 20:59:41 -0500, wrote:

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 19:37:51 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 8/29/2015 10:50 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 07:59:34 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 8/28/2015 10:56 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:


I was at a historical site at the same time a bunch of high
school
kids were. A girl asked me what time it was. A quarter after eleven
meant nothing to her. Eleven fifteen made sense.


Did you tell her you'd inform her at the
bottom of the hour?

Kids just look at this clock and scratch their heads.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/clock.jpg


I'm good with that. Five past twelve. But then,
know that I'm almost a senior citizen.

Wonder if they can handle a rotary dial phone?


I have a few of those too

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/bar.jpg


How much to send a text message on that thing?


--
Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On 08/29/2015 11:55 AM, Uncle Monster wrote:
I've been given too much money at the bank drive through and returned it. I have people ask me why I gave the excess back? My answer is because IT'S NOT MINE.

If it were a large sum I'd return it but for a buck or two I figure I've
probably been short changed enough by mistake that it all evens out.

On 08/29/2015 12:52 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
Since we don't have pennies up here any more, any change is rounded.
Created a huge confusion amongst cashiers. When item is charged
by CC or debit, we still count pennies to exact amount.

Do they still play the $1.99 game? Pennies would go extinct by
themselves if merchandisers didn't know their clientele were stupid
enough to think $1.99 is much cheaper than $2.00.

On 08/29/2015 12:59 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
I learned how to use abacus in HS economics class. At the early stage of
electronic calculator, abacus was faster than calculator. Some could do
calculations fast playing abacus in his brain.

I've seen old women that I think still are faster than a calculator.
Unfortunately in US grade schools an abacus was sort of a toy that even
the teachers didn't know how to use.

On 8/29/2015 7:39 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 08/29/2015 12:59 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
I learned how to use abacus in HS economics class. At the early stage of
electronic calculator, abacus was faster than calculator. Some could do
calculations fast playing abacus in his brain.

I've seen old women that I think still are faster than a calculator.
Unfortunately in US grade schools an abacus was sort of a toy that even the
teachers didn't know how to use.

When I was a kid, my Mom would drag me to the grocery store.
Back then, you'd have coupons like "spend $10 and get a free loaf
of bread" (or whateever).

I've always been *really* good at arithmetic. So, at the checkout,
she'd look through her coupons and invariably end up asking me
how much she had spent -- before we'd checked out. I'd add up the
items in my head (back then, they had PRICE TAGS!) and announce the
total.

Usually, a short while later, the cashier would announce the *same*
total -- and get a weird sense of Deja Vu ("Where have I heard that
before?") and her gaze would shift to me. My Mom, of course, was
already getting the amount out of her purse...

It's a bit harder to do now with "scanners" and the lack of
"price tags". But, I can sort it out *as* I am putting items
in the basket. Still don't have the taxable/nontaxable thing
sorted out so I'm always within a few percent (lower) than the
actual bill. Helpful if the total announced by the cashier is
*more* than that few percent off! ("We'd best check the receipt
carefully...")

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 21:25:37 -0500, "Dean Hoffman"
wrote:

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 20:59:41 -0500, wrote:


I have a few of those too

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/bar.jpg


How much to send a text message on that thing?


10 cents according to the coin slot ... unless you have a pin.

On 08/29/2015 10:36 PM, rbowman wrote:

Since we don't have pennies up here any more, any change is rounded.
Created a huge confusion amongst cashiers. When item is charged
by CC or debit, we still count pennies to exact amount.

Do they still play the $1.99 game? Pennies would go extinct by
themselves if merchandisers didn't know their clientele were stupid
enough to think $1.99 is much cheaper than $2.00.

Australia has eliminated 1-cent and 2-cent coins; the 5-cent coin is the
smallest now. If paying cash, prices are rounded up or down to the
nearest 5 cents, but if paying with plastic the exact price is charged.
(The bills are all Tyvek now too: no more paper.)

Perce

On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 20:36:21 -0600, rbowman
wrote:

On 08/29/2015 12:52 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
Since we don't have pennies up here any more, any change is rounded.
Created a huge confusion amongst cashiers. When item is charged
by CC or debit, we still count pennies to exact amount.

Do they still play the $1.99 game? Pennies would go extinct by
themselves if merchandisers didn't know their clientele were stupid
enough to think $1.99 is much cheaper than $2.00.

How does the penny go away?. At $2 you'd pay $2.12 after tax in CT.

On 08/29/2015 11:01 AM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

[I enjoy designing/building clocks as gifts. My favorite was
a clock that "displayed" the time in Braille, using LEDs for
each dot position in the 6-dot Braille cell. The humor, of
course, lies in the fact that the folks most likely to
understand what it even *is* are folks who are blind -- to
most folks it just looks like an odd collection of blinking
lights! Yet, those blind folks would typically NOT be able
to SEE the LED lights! :-/ ]

The current time is Brown-Red-Brown-Orange-Red-White.

I had an idea for a clock that used 6 full-color LEDs that could be made
to be any color, time would be indicated by color according to the color
code used in electronics, "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet
Gives Willingly" where the digits 0-9 are represented by Black, Brown,
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Gray, White.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Here's what happens when you die--you sit in a box and get eaten by
worms. I guarantee you that nothing cool happens when you die." [Howard
Stern, on E! network show, 4/12/95]

Hi Mark,

On 8/30/2015 10:19 AM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 08/29/2015 11:01 AM, Don Y wrote:

[I enjoy designing/building clocks as gifts. My favorite was
a clock that "displayed" the time in Braille, using LEDs for
each dot position in the 6-dot Braille cell. The humor, of
course, lies in the fact that the folks most likely to
understand what it even *is* are folks who are blind -- to
most folks it just looks like an odd collection of blinking
lights! Yet, those blind folks would typically NOT be able
to SEE the LED lights! :-/ ]

The current time is Brown-Red-Brown-Orange-Red-White.

I had an idea for a clock that used 6 full-color LEDs that could be made to be
any color, time would be indicated by color according to the color code used in
electronics, "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly" where

s/Violet/Virgins/

the digits 0-9 are represented by Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,
Blue, Violet, Gray, White.

That would be cool! And, conveniently, Blk as zero allows a leading
zero in the hour (e.g., 0900) to look right. Brown might be a hard
color to make, though.

I'm presently working on a clock that is built into an old "500-series"
desk set (rotary dial). Lift the cradle and "The time is ...". The
tough part is arranging for the *ringer* (real bell, none of this
electronic "cricket" crap!) to ring. "Dial" the time at which you want
the alarm set, then have the phone *ring* when the time comes!

(most folks won't sleep through a ringing phone; but *can* sleep through
a regular "alarm clock")

My "cream my pants" idea would be to *levitate* BOWLING BALLS to
varying heights depending on the current time. Yeah, it's relatively
easy to do this with ping-pong balls, etc. What would make *this*
impressive would be the fact that lifting and suspending 8-10 pound
balls would, itself, be a significant technical challenge!

(anyone have some extra Flubber to spare??)

On Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 6:06:31 PM UTC-5, Oren wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 10:33:00 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

I suppose most people don't know the the ancient Chinese invented the first pocket calculator. ^_^


They same people that built a great wall to keep foreign invaders and
heathens out.

The U.S. Government could ask the Chinese, Israelis and even some old East Germans for help closing the Southern border. The fraking Romans built two walls across what is now Great Britain before 200AD so maybe we could ask The Italians for some help with a wall? It's not like borders haven't been closed before. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Border Monster

On Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 8:59:48 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 19:37:51 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 8/29/2015 10:50 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 07:59:34 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 8/28/2015 10:56 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:


I was at a historical site at the same time a bunch of high school
kids were. A girl asked me what time it was. A quarter after eleven
meant nothing to her. Eleven fifteen made sense.


Did you tell her you'd inform her at the
bottom of the hour?

Kids just look at this clock and scratch their heads.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/clock.jpg


I'm good with that. Five past twelve. But then,
know that I'm almost a senior citizen.

Wonder if they can handle a rotary dial phone?


I have a few of those too

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/bar.jpg

My what big feet you have! ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Lace Monster

On Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 9:31:29 PM UTC-5, rbowman wrote:
On 08/29/2015 11:55 AM, Uncle Monster wrote:
I've been given too much money at the bank drive through and returned it. I have people ask me why I gave the excess back? My answer is because IT'S NOT MINE.

If it were a large sum I'd return it but for a buck or two I figure I've
probably been short changed enough by mistake that it all evens out.

The the trip down the road to Hell always begins with small steps. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Evil Monster

On Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 9:47:04 PM UTC-5, Don Y wrote:
On 8/29/2015 7:39 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 08/29/2015 12:59 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
I learned how to use abacus in HS economics class. At the early stage of
electronic calculator, abacus was faster than calculator. Some could do
calculations fast playing abacus in his brain.

I've seen old women that I think still are faster than a calculator.
Unfortunately in US grade schools an abacus was sort of a toy that even the
teachers didn't know how to use.

When I was a kid, my Mom would drag me to the grocery store.
Back then, you'd have coupons like "spend $10 and get a free loaf
of bread" (or whateever).

I've always been *really* good at arithmetic. So, at the checkout,
she'd look through her coupons and invariably end up asking me
how much she had spent -- before we'd checked out. I'd add up the
items in my head (back then, they had PRICE TAGS!) and announce the
total.

Usually, a short while later, the cashier would announce the *same*
total -- and get a weird sense of Deja Vu ("Where have I heard that
before?") and her gaze would shift to me. My Mom, of course, was
already getting the amount out of her purse...

It's a bit harder to do now with "scanners" and the lack of
"price tags". But, I can sort it out *as* I am putting items
in the basket. Still don't have the taxable/nontaxable thing
sorted out so I'm always within a few percent (lower) than the
actual bill. Helpful if the total announced by the cashier is
*more* than that few percent off! ("We'd best check the receipt
carefully...")

Isn't there an app for smartphones that can read barcodes? If the seller would allow customer smartphones to access a database of barcodes and prices, the customer would know how much money they'll be spending in realtime. I could see the smartphone accessing the Internet to get coupons for the items just scanned. The future is here. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Shopping Monster

On Sun, 30 Aug 2015 11:36:22 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

On Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 6:06:31 PM UTC-5, Oren wrote:
On Sat, 29 Aug 2015 10:33:00 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

I suppose most people don't know the the ancient Chinese invented the first pocket calculator. ^_^


They same people that built a great wall to keep foreign invaders and
heathens out.

The U.S. Government could ask the Chinese, Israelis and even some old East Germans for help closing the Southern border. The fraking Romans built two walls across what is now Great Britain before 200AD so maybe we could ask The Italians for some help with a wall? It's not like borders haven't been closed before. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Border Monster

Yep. Even Egypt, now along the Gaza strip. Keeping Hamas out.

If fences and walls do not work; why do prisons and the White House
have them?

On Sunday, August 30, 2015 at 12:19:46 PM UTC-5, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 08/29/2015 11:01 AM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

[I enjoy designing/building clocks as gifts. My favorite was
a clock that "displayed" the time in Braille, using LEDs for
each dot position in the 6-dot Braille cell. The humor, of
course, lies in the fact that the folks most likely to
understand what it even *is* are folks who are blind -- to
most folks it just looks like an odd collection of blinking
lights! Yet, those blind folks would typically NOT be able
to SEE the LED lights! :-/ ]

The current time is Brown-Red-Brown-Orange-Red-White.

I had an idea for a clock that used 6 full-color LEDs that could be made
to be any color, time would be indicated by color according to the color
code used in electronics, "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet
Gives Willingly" where the digits 0-9 are represented by Black, Brown,
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Gray, White.
--
Mark Lloyd


I could get even more esoteric with the color code used for identifying pairs in a telephone cable. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Telecom Monster

On Sun, 30 Aug 2015 11:56:22 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

Isn't there an app for smartphones that can read barcodes? If the seller would allow customer smartphones to access a database of barcodes and prices, the customer would know how much money they'll be spending in realtime. I could see the smartphone accessing the Internet to get coupons for the items just scanned. The future is here. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Shopping Monster

My neighbor has a bar code reader app. While shopping, she can scan
the bar code and find a less expensive price at a store down the road
or on her drive back home. Not sure if it indicates the product is in
stock or not.

Don't know the name of a song? There's an APP for that, too. Hold the
phone towards the speaker and the song and CD information pops up.

A kid recently was trapped under his fallen truck. Siri communicated
and called 911 rescue -- saved the kid.

On Sunday, August 30, 2015 at 1:11:57 PM UTC-5, Don Y wrote:
Hi Mark,

On 8/30/2015 10:19 AM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 08/29/2015 11:01 AM, Don Y wrote:

[I enjoy designing/building clocks as gifts. My favorite was
a clock that "displayed" the time in Braille, using LEDs for
each dot position in the 6-dot Braille cell. The humor, of
course, lies in the fact that the folks most likely to
understand what it even *is* are folks who are blind -- to
most folks it just looks like an odd collection of blinking
lights! Yet, those blind folks would typically NOT be able
to SEE the LED lights! :-/ ]

The current time is Brown-Red-Brown-Orange-Red-White.

I had an idea for a clock that used 6 full-color LEDs that could be made to be
any color, time would be indicated by color according to the color code used in
electronics, "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly" where

s/Violet/Virgins/

the digits 0-9 are represented by Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,
Blue, Violet, Gray, White.

That would be cool! And, conveniently, Blk as zero allows a leading
zero in the hour (e.g., 0900) to look right. Brown might be a hard
color to make, though.

I'm presently working on a clock that is built into an old "500-series"
desk set (rotary dial). Lift the cradle and "The time is ...". The
tough part is arranging for the *ringer* (real bell, none of this
electronic "cricket" crap!) to ring. "Dial" the time at which you want
the alarm set, then have the phone *ring* when the time comes!

(most folks won't sleep through a ringing phone; but *can* sleep through
a regular "alarm clock")

My "cream my pants" idea would be to *levitate* BOWLING BALLS to
varying heights depending on the current time. Yeah, it's relatively
easy to do this with ping-pong balls, etc. What would make *this*
impressive would be the fact that lifting and suspending 8-10 pound
balls would, itself, be a significant technical challenge!

(anyone have some extra Flubber to spare??)

I do believe there are psychotropic medications that may help you. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Drug Monster

On 8/30/2015 11:56 AM, Uncle Monster wrote:
On Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 9:47:04 PM UTC-5, Don Y wrote:

It's a bit harder to do now with "scanners" and the lack of "price tags".
But, I can sort it out *as* I am putting items in the basket. Still don't
have the taxable/nontaxable thing sorted out so I'm always within a few
percent (lower) than the actual bill. Helpful if the total announced by
the cashier is *more* than that few percent off! ("We'd best check the
receipt carefully...")

Isn't there an app for smartphones that can read barcodes? If the seller
would allow customer smartphones to access a database of barcodes and
prices, the customer would know how much money they'll be spending in
realtime. I could see the smartphone accessing the Internet to get coupons
for the items just scanned. The future is here. ^_^

I've not found an "authoritative" UPC database anywhere that's
publicly accessible (i.e., "free"). And, that would just give you a
(terribly crude) description of the product. The store would still
have to maintain a publicly accessible mapping of those descriptions
or UPC codes to their *current* pricing.

I have a device (portable barcode scanner with speech synthesizer and
integrated database) that is used for blind folks to identify items
that they've purchased, etc. (get home, unload bags... all the cans
FEEL the same! :-/ )

I'm not sure this would be a wise move; competitors could *easily*
see how your current prices were structured -- instead of having to
"acquire" that information through other "public" means.

Also, I don't think the seller would want you to realize that your basket
NOW has $263 worth of stuff in it -- you'd be inclined to stop ADDING
to it or, perhaps, "unselect" the last item that you added. It's rare
that someone will look at their total and think, "Gee, I need to *add*
one more item... (to reach that $100 mark)"

On Sun, 30 Aug 2015 11:38:50 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

Wonder if they can handle a rotary dial phone?


I have a few of those too

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/bar.jpg

My what big feet you have! ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Lace Monster

Deck shoes are a necessity. Been wearing them for many decades :-\

On Sunday, August 30, 2015 at 2:05:02 PM UTC-5, Oren wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2015 11:56:22 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

Isn't there an app for smartphones that can read barcodes? If the seller would allow customer smartphones to access a database of barcodes and prices, the customer would know how much money they'll be spending in realtime. I could see the smartphone accessing the Internet to get coupons for the items just scanned. The future is here. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Shopping Monster

My neighbor has a bar code reader app. While shopping, she can scan
the bar code and find a less expensive price at a store down the road
or on her drive back home. Not sure if it indicates the product is in
stock or not.

Don't know the name of a song? There's an APP for that, too. Hold the
phone towards the speaker and the song and CD information pops up.

A kid recently was trapped under his fallen truck. Siri communicated
and called 911 rescue -- saved the kid.

I'm not familiar with everything that smartass phones can do because I've never owned one. If I did, I'm sure I'd be fraking with it constantly. A lot of those apps run on my Android tablets but I don't have one of them here with me. My housemate couldn't find them and I fear a malicious app may have installed itself then made my Android's jump up and run away. If I can get the right sized knee brace from Amazon in the next few days, I may be able to walk well enough to visit home to see what's missing. o_O

[8~{} Uncle Droid Monster

On 08/30/2015 06:08 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
How does the penny go away?. At $2 you'd pay $2.12 after tax in CT.

Excuse me. I tend to forget there are states that always have their hand
out. I have to retrained every time I leave the state and find I have to
pony up $4.21 to take possession of my $3.99 rat burger.

Between living in New Hampshire and Montana I haven't had to pay sales
tax in 40 years until I venture to other states.

On 8/30/2015 12:31 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 08/30/2015 06:08 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
How does the penny go away?. At $2 you'd pay $2.12 after tax in CT.

Excuse me. I tend to forget there are states that always have their hand out. I
have to retrained every time I leave the state and find I have to pony up $4.21
to take possession of my $3.99 rat burger.

Between living in New Hampshire and Montana I haven't had to pay sales tax in
40 years until I venture to other states.

We have state, county and *city* sales taxes, here (AZ). One of the car
dealers advertises that they have no (city) sales tax (2%) -- unlike
the dealership directly across the *street* from them!

OTOH, I recall doing a gig in CT and having them collect sales tax
on my (consultant) fees!

On 08/30/2015 11:19 AM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
The current time is Brown-Red-Brown-Orange-Red-White.

Great idea! 0.02% of the population can read a resistor. I'm really not
one of them anymore except for the popular values.

On 08/30/2015 12:11 PM, Don Y wrote:
My "cream my pants" idea would be to *levitate* BOWLING BALLS to
varying heights depending on the current time. Yeah, it's relatively
easy to do this with ping-pong balls, etc. What would make *this*
impressive would be the fact that lifting and suspending 8-10 pound
balls would, itself, be a significant technical challenge!


I had a professor who had a demonstration where he suspended a bowling
ball on about a 20' wire. He would stand on the side of the podium,
place the ball firmly against his chin, let go, and stand perfectly
still while the ball described its arc. It convinced first year physics
students he knew more about physics than they did.

The same guy was also known for firing off a model pulse jet in the
lecture hall. That convinced the students he was completely insane.

On 08/30/2015 12:36 PM, Uncle Monster wrote:
The U.S. Government could ask the Chinese, Israelis and even some old East Germans for help closing the Southern border. The fraking Romans built two walls across what is now Great Britain before 200AD so maybe we could ask The Italians for some help with a wall? It's not like borders haven't been closed before. ^_^

Don't forget the Danevirke. The Germans though about converting it into
a tank trap in WWII but Himmler decided it made a better historical
artifact than a defensive barrier.

On 08/30/2015 12:42 PM, Uncle Monster wrote:
The the trip down the road to Hell always begins with small steps. ^_^

Been there, got the t-shirt...

On 08/30/2015 01:04 PM, Oren wrote:
A kid recently was trapped under his fallen truck. Siri communicated
and called 911 rescue -- saved the kid.

Lassie is currently unemployed and homeless. Send dog food, preferably dry.