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Re: House Subcomittee Passes Bill Banning Online Sales, Flavored Tobacco & Increase Tobacco Purchase Age to 21

app — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 06:49:24 -0000

Again, the product I am referring to is not the one you think it is. It's not the "crappy cigarillos" that have always been sold in convenience stores, even before the flavored cigarette ban. These are the new generation of flavored "cigars", indistinguishable from standard cigarettes, except for the color of their paper, that used to be the now banned flavored cigarettes.

I am a former smoker, who quit by vaping. Before I quit, I was a clove smoker, so I am very familiar with the transformation that product took from being considered a flavored cigarette to becoming a flavored "cigar", almost overnight (to evade the flavored cigarette ban), because I ended up switching to those new clove "cigars" when they came out on the market, from the same brand I smoked before, in the same packaging (but smaller packs of 12 instead of 20).

Google "Djarum Black" to get an idea of the "cigars" I am referring to. They are the most popular brand of this new generation of "little flavored cigars" in the US. There are video reviews on Youtube that will give you a good view of the product, containing enough "reference objects" to give you an idea of the size they are. Previously, before being classified as a "cigar" they were thinner and slightly longer than a standard cigarette, and very tightly packed. Now, they are thicker and shorter, the same size as a standard cigarette, a little more loosely packed, and use a thin grade of cigar paper instead of cigarette paper. They also went from being jet black to being a brownish black.

People that smoke them don't consider themselves to be cigar smokers or cigarello smokers. They consider themselves to be clove cigarette smokers or kretek smokers. And terminology is important when asking questions on surveys, because if you don't ask the right questions, you won't get to the truth. If you ask a clove smoking teen if they smoke cigars or cigarillos, they will say they don't, because they don't think of their clove cigarettes/kretek as being what you are asking about, even if it says "cigars" on the package.

How did I ever become a clove smoker? I was a menthol cigarette smoker, till a teenager introduced me to cloves, which is also what most of her friends that smoked were using...teenagers, ranging in age from 15-17, smoking flavored "cigars".

And they were not buying them to empty them out and fill with MJ. You really can't with these.The paper is much too thin and they break too easily, more easily than a standard cigarette, if I am going to be honest.

And because they are imported, they are much more expensive than standard cigarettes (about 50% more expensive). It wouldn't make sense to buy them and empty them, just to fill with weed, when you'd spend a lot less money if you just bought a pack of standard cigarettes for that purpose...or a pack of those cheap "crappy cigarillos" you are referring to.

And before you accuse me of parroting silly congressmen, you should know that I am not in favor of e-cigarette flavor bans. And I don't consider any validity to the notion of a "teen vaping epidemic".

I actually know enough about nicotine to know that in and of itself, separated from traditional combustible cigarettes, nicotine actually isn't any more harmful or addictive than caffeine. If it were, you wouldn't be able to buy nicotine gum or patches over the counter. The pharmaceutical companies proved long ago that they were safe enough, and not addictive enough to warrant being by prescription, only.

Nicotine is also a nootropic, a cognitive enhancer, having both a stimulating and calming effect, simultaneously, which enhances one's memory, and ability to focus and/or concentrate. Slap a nicotine patch of the right dosage on a kid with ADHD, and he will likely get better grades in school. And there is currently research going on to develop patentable, nicotine derived drugs for treating ADHD....and other conditions, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

The truly bad thing about smoking, beyond the illnesses it causes, and what makes it difficult to quit, is that it is a compulsive habit. If you do the same hand motion frequently enough, long enough, it becomes a compulsive habit. And bringing your hand to your mouth repeatedly, for 5 minutes straight, multiple times a day, for a few months to years, is enough to set you up with a compulsion to keep doing that hand-to-mouth behavior for many years to come, even if you manage to quit smoking.

My husband quit smoking, but kept right on bringing his hand to his mouth, snacking his way to type 2 diabetes. He has been smoke free for the last 25 years, but still has that hand-to-mouth habit, and likely will for the rest of his life.

I, on the other hand, had no intention on repeating what he did. After trying nicotine gum & patches, and failing repeatedly, I decided to go a different route. I made the decision to separate my nicotine addiction from my compulsive hand-to-mouth habit and deal with them separately. I wore a nicotine patch while transitioning to vaping nicotine free e-liquid. I stopped using the patch a few days later, and kept right on vaping the nicotine free e-liquid. I am no longer addicted to nicotine, my health is better than it has ever been, and I actually lost weight, instead of gaining it. (I vape all the junk food flavors, instead of doing what my husband did and eating them)

And if you want my opinion on the measures the politicians are coming up with to try to curb the "epidemic" of youth vaping, I think everything they are doing is highly misguided, if their intention is to protect the health of teens, from the harmful effects of nicotine (which isn't really all that harmful or addictive as it's made out to be)

I think their real intention is to drive the teens and former smokers that are vaping, back towards traditional cigarettes, because under the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), states are paid more money, if there are more smokers, less money when teens vape instead of smoking, and less money when people use vaping to quit, because the many small companies that produce vape products are not parties to that agreement the states made with the members of Big Tobacco. That MSA is also why they haven't just banned all cigarettes, outright. They can't, because the MSA says they can't. The MSA says the tobacco companies will pay each state a percentage of total cigarette sales, each year, in exchange for the states not suing them out of existence. And vaping has been whittling down the amount that states receive, steadily, to the point where state budgets are now being threatened by the vaping industry, which was created by smokers, for the benefit of smokers, and not by Big Tobacco.

If they can force vapers back to traditional cigarettes, by neutralizing it's effectiveness to keep people from smoking (banning flavors, making it harder for anyone, including adults, to buy, etc), it's a win/win for the states. They get to pad their pockets with more MSA cash from tobacco companies, while at the same time erroneously blaming vaping as being a gateway to smoking, and not an aid to quitting, so they can completely ban it outright, ensuring a steady supply of MSA cash the states can rely on, for at least a few more generations to come.

On the other hand, if they embraced vaping, enforced existing laws prohibiting the sale to minors, and banned all other tobacco products other than vapor products, they would save 1 billion lives over the next 10 years, Instead, they are eager to sign a death warrant for those 1 billion people, just to pad their pockets with more MSA money.

Re: House Subcomittee Passes Bill Banning Online Sales, Flavored Tobacco & Increase Tobacco Purchase Age to 21

app — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 01:25:46 -0000

Perhaps the statistics you are citing are referring to what most people think of when they think of cigars...those fat stinky stogies. But there is another kind, quite popular with younger people.

When flavors were banned from cigarettes (except menthol), many of those flavored cigarette brands reformulated their products to comply with cigar rules, and went from being flavored cigarettes, wrapped in white paper, sold in packs of 20 to being flavored "cigars" in packs of 12 (or less). There isn't much that makes them all that different from cigarettes. They are the same size as a typical cigarette, have filters, are wrapped in paper (made from tobacco, rather than wood pulp, so it usually isn't white), but since they were allowed to be flavored under cigar rules, you could get them flavored in grape, clove, vanilla, cherry, etc. This was how people that smoked clove cigarettes, kept right on smoking them after the cigarette flavor ban...they smoked little brownish-black clove "cigars".

Re: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco and Alcohol News Analysis and Commentary: The “Other” Youth Vaping Epidemic: Why Has It Been Ignored?

app — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 17:19:30 -0000

You really should police your comments section more, to remove the spam ones advertising THC carts, and specifically of the brands that were implicated in the lung injuries that have been reported. Those spam comments really don't make your blog look very good when you leave them there for everyone to see.

Re: Shooting a Luxury Watch Photo… with a $5 Watch

app — Wed, 01 May 2019 13:55:09 -0000

That's what I thought, too, and clicked through just to find out what $5 watch had a camera in it.

Re: Fumytech Rose MTL RTA | Key Features & First Impressions

app — Sat, 28 Jul 2018 01:51:21 -0000

I decided to spend a little more and go with the Innokin Ares, since I really want a tank. Dripping seems like too much work, especially for someone that chain vapes.

Re: Fumytech Rose MTL RTA | Key Features & First Impressions

app — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 23:00:22 -0000

Would you recommend the Rose as someone's first rebuildable?

Re: Yahoo! Widget Engine 4.5.2 - Windows 7 Desktop Gadget

app — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 08:27:31 -0000

You can get a fixed version of the Yahoo weather widget from this forum post: http://www.donationcoder.co...

Please do keep in mind that all I did was change the URL it gets its data from. All other code remains same as original, which means if weather.com sends bad data, it will still crash like the original did.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

app — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 23:36:05 -0000

You wouldn't be surprised to see a modern computer with Windows 10 taking 5 minutes to boot up? Really?

I would be quite surprised, since I have an old obsolete computer in another room, that's a Pentium I, circa 1997, 233mhz, 64MB RAM, running Windows ME, that takes 6 minutes to cold boot from a push of the power button to the Windows ME desktop, PLUS a large number of 3rd party applications configured to load at startup.

If a modern machine is taking anywhere near that to just get to the Windows 10 desktop, I'd say there is something seriously wrong with that machine, or there's a whole bunch of crap installed on it, set to load at startup, that's slowing it down, and someone either doesn't know it or doesn't want to admit to it,and just wants to blame it on Windows 10.

Re: The 3-Day Military Diet – A Beginner’s Guide

app — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 03:38:34 -0000

Canned chicken, packed in water can be found in the same aisle as tuna. Replace dairy with non-dairy alternatives, such as Tofutti in place of the ice cream and Google for a recipe for tofu cottage cheese.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

app — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 16:29:47 -0000

If you are willing to pay for it, Dell has some insane Windows laptop options that blow away anything Apple is offering. Take a look at the customizing options for this one: http://www.dell.com/us/busi...

Re: How to Train Your Small Dog to Use the Litter Box

app — Sun, 26 Feb 2017 04:38:41 -0000

Once upon a time, people left their homes to do their business, too. Or I suppose you still use an outhouse, because it's unnatural to use the bathroom inside your home?

Re: New Jersey to become first state to send new parents home with baby boxes

app — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 03:08:53 -0000

"My daughter is just fine and she slept with us for the first 4 months she was here!"

And my husband ate mothballs when he was 3, and he is just fine. Does that mean it's a good idea to let your toddler eat mothballs? No, and it's not a good idea to let your baby sleep in the same bed with you, either.

Re: New Jersey to become first state to send new parents home with baby boxes

app — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 07:29:56 -0000

You know what else is listed as an adverse reaction to receiving most vaccines? Bruising. But that doesn't mean that vaccines are the only cause of bruising or that only people that have received vaccines get bruises, because unvaccinated kids get bruises, too.

Use your brain, or grow one and use it, whichever the case may be, because when something is listed as a possible adverse reaction, it does not imply that all cases of that particular condition can be attributed to whatever lists it as a possible adverse reaction. Other things can also cause the same condition. It also doesn't mean that every person will have every adverse reaction listed.

And in the case of SIDS and vaccines, one would have to be allergic to some component in a vaccine or have some underlying condition in which that particular vaccine is contraindicated, usually unknown at the time of vaccination (aka something already wrong with them, BEFORE they receive the vaccine).

So, for example, if you have a baby that's allergic to eggs and you don't know that, and they get vaccinated with something that should not be given to a child that is allergic to eggs, and you take them home and put them to bed and they have a severe reaction that kills them in their sleep, it could be listed as a case of SIDS, if some local hick medical examiner doesn't feel like doing his job and figuring out the actual cause of death being an allergic reaction.

Re: New Jersey to become first state to send new parents home with baby boxes

app — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 01:19:23 -0000

The box program is meant to discourage new parents from putting their baby to sleep in the same bed with them, not to discourage the use of cribs and bassinets.

Re: Yahoo! Widget Engine 4.5.2 - Windows 7 Desktop Gadget

app — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 07:19:14 -0000

I fixed it, but I don't know how to donate my fixed version to this site. You have any idea on how I can do that?

Re: How to Remove Chewing Gum From Clothing

app — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 06:27:38 -0000

The fastest, easiest, cheapest way to remove gum from things is with mineral spirits.

Re: 10 Animated Films That The World Inexplicably Forgot

app — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 19:32:57 -0000

Forgotten among the forgotten, not included in any of the lists of obscure, and/or under-rated animated movies is Gay Purr-ee (1962), starring Judy Garland as the voice of Mewsette, Robert Goulet as the voice of Jaune Tom, written by Chuck Jones and his wife. It was the movie that got Chuck Jones fired from Warner Bros, for breaking his exclusivity contract with them, by moonlighting for UPA.

Re: Hacking the Fitbit – Emulating a Pager for Twitter DMs!

app — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 23:31:53 -0000

What Fitbit model and firmware revision do you have? This probably wouldn't work with my old Fitbit, since to add alarms to it, it requires me to manually sync it, through the desktop software. Sending my stats it does automatically, every 15 minutes, but receiving updates about alarms isn't automatic.

Re: Zendesk

app — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 12:47:54 -0000

You mentioned that Zendesk doesn't have a WYSIWYG editor, which is not true.

The default editor supports markdown and has a preview tab, but there is a setting to switch that to a WYSIWYG editor, similar to most e-mail clients. But that is a setting that affects all agents and once you switch to that, you lose the ability for agents to use markdown, which may be much faster for an experienced agent.

So, if your agents understand markdown, which isn't very difficult to learn, they may not want the WYSIWYG editor getting in their way and slowing them down. I find it faster to use markdown because it doesn't require you to take your hands off the keyboard, while the WYSIWYG editor requires reaching for the mouse, selecting text, and clicking buttons.

In your overview comparison chart, I noticed that you didn't give Zendesk credit for a couple of other features, such as SLA Monitoring and Rules-Based Automation. It most definitely has both of those features, too.

I don't know if your lack of knowledge about these 3 features was due to the plan you were trying, but they most definitely exist in the Plus plan that we use.

Re: How I Set Up My Development Machine on Windows

app — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 09:39:30 -0000

I have not had this issue with XAMPP, but I have had it with Ampps and Skype, where I can't run Ampps unless I close Skype, first.

Re: Cleaning House after Internet Explorer

app — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 20:26:26 -0000

Nobody has yet provided a means for embedding a browser into a Windows desktop application quite as easily as Microsoft has with Trident, and there are a lot of applications with Trident embedded into them that are not going to go away any time soon.

Microsoft has not yet provided an alternative for these applications to migrate to. Fussing with integrating Webkit or Gecko into your desktop application really isn't as easy and can not realistically be considered an alternative to the simple drag & drop Trident option that has been available for eons, in tools such Visual Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder. By embedding Trident, you eliminated the need to keep providing updates every time there was a security patch released for Gecko or Webkit. Your embedded Trident based browser was self-updating, whenever the user installed an IE update.

And just how prevalent is the use of the Trident engine in applications which are not considered the Internet Explorer desktop browser, as you know it?

Off the top of my head, I can name a few browsers & RSS readers that still use it:

- AOL's desktop software (yes, there are people still on dialup that still use this and it's still available on AOL's website)
- Maxthon browser (the devs have plans on migrating to webkit/Chromium in the next version, but their users are staging a revolt over it)
- Newzie RSS reader (still one of the best, IMHO, and while it does have a Gecko option, you can only use an outdated Gecko version with it and the user has to set that up themselves, and it's not that easy to get it working correctly)

Not to mention the plethora of smaller freeware and indy apps (even I wrote a few desktop apps that used it), and very expensive custom developed proprietary enterprise applications.

Just because Microsoft is dropping support for "IE" doesn't mean they are completely dropping support for the Trident components of their OS that makes these other applications work. Windows users just won't be able to launch an application called "Internet Explorer" from their desktop or receive updates for "Internet Explorer". They will still be able to launch those other apps with the Trident engine integrated into them, and those components of their Windows OS that makes those other apps work will still receive security updates.

Because if Microsoft doesn't, enterprise customers that have invested a ton of money into the development of proprietary software they need to run their business, that integrates the Trident engine, will all jump ship. If they are going to have to invest another $50,000+ to have their proprietary software rewritten to use a different browser engine, they might as well move to another OS while they are at it, such as Linux, or not upgrade to a newer version of Windows (which isn't free for enterprise customers).

And Microsoft knows that, so they won't remove those Trident based Windows OS components. Those enterprise customers and those that develop software for them are their bread & butter. Can you imagine Microsoft telling their enterprise customers "We are going to break all your apps if you upgrade, but we expect you to upgrade any way, and pay us a lot of money for that, and then pay a ton more to have all your apps rewritten to work with our new Windows OS"?

So, if you have site visitors using any of the apps I mentioned above, or you develop stuff for use in these enterprise apps that use the Trident engine, you'll be supporting "IE" for a long, long time to come.

Re: 4-year-old girl left outside wrong school by bus driver in Newark

app — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 19:42:34 -0000

Renters DO pay property taxes. If a property contains any number of apartments and the landlord does not live there, it is reasonable to assume that 100% of the taxes for that property is being paid for out of the money the owner receives in rents, making the property tax liability evenly divided among the tenants that live there.

If the owner also lives in one of the apartments, then he is considered to have only paid the amount equal to that apartment's share of the liability. In a small apartment building with 4 apartments, that would mean the owner would only have paid about 25% of the property taxes due on the property, with his tenants having paid the rest.

And the State of NJ agrees, as back when there was a property tax rebate available in this state, renters were eligible to receive one. The state considered their share of the property taxes for where they lived, to be included in their rent.

Re: Free PGWARE Throttle 7 (100% discount)

app — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 07:43:46 -0000

Then that is what you should have said, in the first place, instead of coming down on all of the small independent developers of the world, lumping them all into one group and declaring them all untrustworthy because they work from home, assuming they are all the same because of the bad practices of just this one developer. That's offensive to any small independent software developer that works hard to produce good software.

The updating practices of PGWARE are relevant. Whether they work from home or not, isn't.

Re: Free PGWARE Throttle 7 (100% discount)

app — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 19:28:42 -0000

Independent software developers can work out of their homes for decades. It doesn't mean they will close up and disappear. In fact, it usually means they will be around longer.

Why should an independent software developer rent an extra office space for just himself to work when he can use his home office he already has? If he rents the extra office, then he has higher expenses he might not be able to meet, and he will then either close up or move back to his home office. He could have saved the money he paid on rent to buy better development tools, or to take more time off from his regular job to devote more time to developing his apps.

You don't know what a labor of love it is for an independent software developer. Their applications are their babies and they will go through a lot to keep them alive, much more than a larger company would.

I knew a developer that ended up homeless, but still went through a lot of trouble to keep his little software company going, working from the local public library during the day, while sleeping on the beach at night. No home, no office, his laptop and everything else he owned in a backpack, but he kept on coding.

Normal companies in an office wouldn't do that. They would just close up and disappear.

Re: Target Loved the Guy Who Trolled Its Haters, Judging by This Genius Facebook Post

app — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 20:07:29 -0000

Yes, it's a Bronco. You can find a bunch of them by searching "Tonka Bronco" on ebay. They originally came in the 2 styles shown above, as well as red, blue, and an emergency vehicle white version. Be careful though, as some are missing the accessories (rack, spare tire, gas can)