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Creating personal data/special folders



 
 
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  #76  
Old May 28th 15, 07:01 PM posted to microsoft.public.windows.vista.general,alt.comp.os.windows-8,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.windows7.general
Mike Barnes[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 537
Default Creating personal data/special folders

Mayayana wrote:
| I'm mildly amused. :-) Are we still talking about adding some numbers
and
| then subtracting that total from another number, or is there more
involved?
|
| Yes, more is involved. I match every transaction on the statement (which
| stretches over several pages) with my own records. Recent transactions
| will be missing from the statement and have to held over for the next
| one, and obviously the two balances will differ.

I do that as well. I have a slip of paper in a draw.
When it gets full I tape a new piece at the bottom.
After making charge purchases, I fire up my trusty
penta-digit computer, feed it a ball point pen, and
write down the price, store and purpose of for the
item. I daresay that firing up the penta-digit also takes
about 1 second, from start to having pen in hand.

My list doubles for my business purchases,
so I like to record customer names under the "purpose"
column in that case. The nice thing about my
penta-digit is that it can easily handle multi-defined
columns and creative notes in margins, which most
database-type tools choke on.

When I get my credit card bill I then fire up the
old penta-digit once again. It write a small check mark
next to each item that matches the purchase list.
Brilliant, don't you think? Best of all, aside from providing
3 meals a day (which I'd eat anyway) my penta-digit
only requires a pen from Staples once every few years.
So it's nearly cost-free and never requires buying
"upgrades".

I do use one "non-organic" machine for my extensive
recordkeeing, however. It's a solar powered, Texas
Instruments calculator that I bought at CVS drugstore
in May of 1985, for $10. I remember the date because
I bought it for my then-new business. To this day I
still don't use a computer for my business, except for
graphics and printing: receipts, business cards, images
of design ideas sent to customers via email, etc. My
business records and receipts are mainly on paper. If
I send a bill it's a PDF created in Libre Office. If I give
people a bill on the job I do it using a sheet of carbon
paper, so that we both have a copy. (I've also had the
same pack of carbon paper for years. Just because new
technology is available that doesn't necessarily mean it's
better.)


Very nice. I used to do things that way, but the computer does it so
much better. No new pens required either, and as for upgrades, the last
was in about 1995.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England
Ads
  #77  
Old May 28th 15, 07:19 PM posted to microsoft.public.windows.vista.general,alt.comp.os.windows-8,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.windows7.general
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default Creating personal data/special folders

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Thu, 28 May 2015 06:21:36 -0600, Ken Springer
wrote:

On 5/28/15 6:17 AM, Mayayana wrote:


Just because new
technology is available that doesn't necessarily mean it's
better.)

+1 on the last sentence. G



I also agree. However, as far as I'm concerned, new technology is
better than older technology the great majority of the time.


Until someone finds the caveats in it, and shines a light on it.

*******

That 4GB/sec PCI Express connector in your new PC ? It only
delivers data at ~2GB/sec. The cause ? Intel using too-small
buffers on the bus host controller.

That new-fangled USB3 technology ? The USB3 cable stretching
from the back of your PC, emits RF signals in the 2.4GHz band,
wiping out Wifi/Bluetooth/Wireless Keyboard for people.

Not everything new, is unblemished.

How about this one ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomePlu...rline_Alliance

Even though nominally, that one has frequency notches to
prevent spill into other RF bands, that device causes
the ham operator next door, to no longer be able to
pick up distant signals. Your ham radio operator next
door, is ****ed at you. Of course, calling the FCC or
DOC doesn't work, because the device is "nominally compliant",
not really truly a non-interfering device.

Or even Wifi devices, where someone with an 802.11N
and three antennas and a "power booster", tries to
wipe the floor with your home Wifi LAN. And suddenly your
Wifi doesn't work.

Yes, new technology is wonderful.

SSDs that brick themselves.
Hard drives that brick themselves.
Every device with a processor in it, that can get hacked.

It's a brave new world.

I can see that new self driving car I bought,
drive off a cliff some day, while some kids
with an Android on an adjacent hillside, watch...
Coming to a theater near you.

As a savvy consumer, you can do your part by not
accepting new technology that has holes in it. For
example, do I need smart lightbulbs I can control
from my Android ? Or is a regular light switch
and bulb, safe and effective ? Your choice.

*******

The other day, we had a power brownout here.
What technologies alerted me ?

1) The old-fashioned UPS shut down. It detected 93 VAC
was too low, so it switched to batteries. A new-fangled
UPS with AVR, would not have said a word. The AVR
feature would have boosted the voltage for you.

2) An incandescent light bulb in my bathroom, confirmed
the low voltage problem. The LED lightbulbs my
computer room uses, are self-regulating, and put out
as much light at 100VAC as at 115VAC. They cannot
alert me to trouble.

And as near as I can tell, none of my neighbors on
the street, even noticed. So the new technologies
helped hide the details. Only someone boiling a
kettle, and noticing it was taking twice as long
to boil a kettle, might have noticed.

So yeah, I love new technology. Sure glad I didn't
replace the old UPS with a new one. As it alerted
me to trouble right away, with a persistent beep
tone. It even automatically shut off the computer
I'm using right now (so I finally got to confirm
that feature works).

It's a shame my hydro (power) company doesn't know
how to run a utility. They've done this before,
brownout on purpose while switching the wiring plan
of the neighborhood. I don't know why I have to be
the guy to phone up and complain. And then they
pretend "we're already working on it". Bull****!

The reason I'm a bit ****ed about this stuff, is
they came close to damaging my refrigerator.
The fridge switched on, and the compressor nearly
didn't come up to speed. It could have "cooked"
and even if the thermal cutout on it was still
working, one thermal event might have been enough
to ruin it. My fridge isn't exactly new.

Paul
  #78  
Old May 28th 15, 08:31 PM posted to microsoft.public.windows.vista.general,alt.comp.os.windows-8,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.windows7.general
Char Jackson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,449
Default Creating personal data/special folders

On Thu, 28 May 2015 07:58:07 +0100, Mike Barnes
wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 27 May 2015 23:23:34 +0100, Mike Barnes
wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:

I'm just thinking that by the time you fire up Quicken, you probably could
be done already.

Hardly. Firing up Quicken takes approximately one second.

[I'm principally talking about credit card accounts, not "balancing my
checkbook", if that makes a difference.]


Makes no difference to me. I balance my bank accounts and my credit card
accounts in near real time.


What does "in near real time" mean?


For credit card transactions, I get notified within 2-3 seconds of every
transaction, so I can approve or deny them at that time. No need to
reconcile paper receipts.

For credit union transactions, I don't have proactive notifications set up,
but I log in at least daily to stay on top of what's happening there. I
don't write checks, (I'll say one or two a year, just to cover myself), so
it's not like I have to actually balance anything. It's just a quick glance
to confirm that everything looks legitimate, so by the time EOM or EOQ rolls
around, I have nothing to reconcile.

For investment-related financial institutions, I also check those online, so
by the time EOM or EOQ rolls around, I have nothing to reconcile.

BTW I suspect that what you mean by "balance" isn't what I'm talking about.


Could be.

  #79  
Old May 29th 15, 02:27 AM posted to microsoft.public.windows.vista.general,alt.comp.os.windows-8,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default Creating personal data/special folders

| I also agree. However, as far as I'm concerned, new technology is
| better than older technology the great majority of the time.
|
|
| Until someone finds the caveats in it, and shines a light on it.
|

Indeed. In addition to your list, just off the
top of my head:

* Keurig coffee makers that produce waste for no reason.

* Pre-primed wood moldings, made of glued up scraps
that later fall apart.

* Acrylic deck stain, which wears away nearly as
soon as it's painted on.

* Dryer sheets and plug-in air fresheners that fill the
air with noxious "fresh" scent.

* Roundup-ready corn and soy, designed to tolerate even
more toxic herbicide than regular grain, while also being
a patent-protected life form, so that farmers are banned
by Monsanto from saving seed. (Even if they did, it's
also designed to be sterile.)

* Frankenfood in general. I read the other day that Panera
Bread hopes to remove the 350-odd chemicals they use in
their products. One example: Titanium dioxide, the stuff
that makes white paint white (along with chalk) is used to
keep the cheese looking light colored as it ages. Normally
it would turn brown. The Panera people think removing
the fake ingredients will be good for business. But they're
having trouble: No one knows what their suppliers suppliers
suppliers are actually putting into the product. Bon Apetit.

Thinking of bad technology is like shooting fish in
a barrel. The truly odd thing is that most people will
think these technologies are good, based on nothing
more than exposure to marketing.


  #80  
Old May 29th 15, 03:47 AM posted to microsoft.public.windows.vista.general,alt.comp.os.windows-8,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.windows7.general
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default Creating personal data/special folders

Mayayana wrote:


* Dryer sheets and plug-in air fresheners that fill the
air with noxious "fresh" scent.


I'm with you on that one. My next door neighbor
goes through a metric ton of that stuff. And no
two dryer loads use the same "flavor".

I'm really impressed by the group of organic
chemists who design that stuff. So many "flavors",
all with the same electrical (antistatic) characteristics.
And none of them catch fire in the dryer :-)

I've stopped using dryer sheets here. One day
I got to the end of a box of them, and said to
myself "exactly why am I using these?". And
I couldn't come up with a good answer. I'd switched
from the aroma-filled ones, to the aroma-free
ones. And when the box of those was gone,
there just didn't seem to be a reason to
buy more.

(Yeah, sometimes the clothes stick together.
But they also used to stick together before
dryer sheets, and we somehow survived.)

Paul
 




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