Well in this case it was not handholding that was needed but a solution. The product did install after a slew of retries, I lost count after 10, I was not eligible for a free first support because I was already a customer. I bought a copy a few years ago and it works for me. I foolishly showed my doc friend how neat it was and he had me buy a copy for him, install it, and help him get running. Even after getting it running, it stopped working (i.e., just will not execute the code). It works flawlessly on my notebook but not his. Oh and By The Way, Dragon is Nuanced also. Which is why I aimed him at ViaVoice as opposed to Dragon. Bottom line: Buyer beware.
FUP: on Ed’s post
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
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Posted by reinkefj
Ed Foster “IBM’s Brand Takes on a Different Nuance” — that me! ;-)
Wednesday, April 12, 2006http://weblog.infoworld.com/foster/2006/04/11_a386.html#a386
IBM's Brand Takes on a Different Nuance
{Begin Quote}
When you buy a product because you trust the brand, it can be a shock to discover a completely different company is actually doing technical support. For example, many IBM ThinkPad customers were unhappy when IBM sold that brand to Lenovo. And now a reader finds that support for another product with Big Blue's name on it – the IBM ViaVoice speech recognition software– is actually done by ScanSoft. Or, as ScanSoft now calls itself, Nuance Communications.
(End Quote}
Hey that's my story. I'm famous! I shared it with Ed because he has a knack for highlighting the problems. Not that in this case anything got done. The doc still can't use his voice. BUT, at least the story is out there for others to profit from.
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Posted by reinkefj
Vin Suprynowicz seems to hit the nail on the head more often than not imho.
Sunday, April 9, 2006http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Apr-09-Sun-2006/opinion/6593868.html
{Begin Quote}
Libertarians generally support free movement of peoples, merely demanding that we get rid of mandated "welfare" benefits that attract deadbeats by taxing more productive citizens to fund "free" schooling and emergency-room health care for leeches and freeloaders. I greatly prefer that solution.
{End Quote}
I agree. Eliminate ALL the "free stuff" that I am forced to pay for, comply with, and kow tow to. Then we'd be free again.
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Posted by reinkefj
My Wiki Opedia problem: Can’t refer to a local file
Sunday, April 9, 2006I didcovered that you can NOT have a space in an external url. Google desktop does not include files without a file extension. Goodgle desktop only includes certain extensions. Yahoo desktop doesn't always work as expected (i.e., the dash in a search must have a meta meaning). espite changing the mediawiki advices string and restarting everything, I still can't reference a local file. So I'll have to change my strategy. Give each alum an number and key it thsat way. Hmmm, have to think about that. … …
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Posted by reinkefj
ARGHH! Somehow I managed to lose my choices on my other blog
Saturday, April 8, 2006I must a done something wrong. Not sure what it was. BUT, like a dummy I didn’t have a copy anywhere. Yahoo search, doesn’t work as good as Google desktop for finding webpages. Although Yahoo’s does find things that Google’s couldn’t. Guess you need both. Luckily, I was able to find an old entry cached on Google to recover it. Neat! A new form of backup. Do something stupid. Blunder away. And if Google’s spyder took it, you might be able to find it. Any way it’s back to the way it was.
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Posted by reinkefj
GONZALEZ RESIGNS AS MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH TO ACCEPT SAME POSITION AT SETON HALL
Saturday, April 8, 2006http://www.gojaspers.com/article.cfm?doc_id=6689
GONZALEZ RESIGNS AS MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH TO ACCEPT SAME POSITION AT SETON HALL
{Begin Quote}
Riverdale, N.Y. (April 7, 2006)- Manhattan head men's basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez has announced his resignation to accept the head coaching position at Seton Hall University. Manhattan College will begin its search for Gonzalez's replacement immediately, but have set no timetable for the hiring process.
{End Quote}
Surprised he stayed as long as he did. Not a very well kept secret. I hope he extracted a lot of money from them. Anyway, we’ll see if Brother President can work his “small budget magic secret” (i.e., can’t afford to pay a lot, economics of a small school, so let me find the best up and coming talent who wants a chance to break into the big time by working for substandard money, all the while knowing that if he’s good, he’s gone). While creating a lab for testing coaching fitness, MC does get the benefit of good coaching for whatever time we can have them. Interesting strategy born out of necessity.
Since I have a CGC meeting on Monday, it should make for some interesting table talk. I doubt I'll have any "scoops" but I will enjoy the insight into his thinking. :-)
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Posted by reinkefj
Scott Adams aka Dilbert: “The Seeing Eye Dog does not like to be pushed into traffic by the blind guy.”
Friday, April 7, 2006http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/04/dancing.html
Scott Adams is a stich. I can just see that metaphor with the proverbial bus coming down the street.
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Posted by reinkefj
Froschmausekrieg = “war between the frogs and the mice”
Friday, April 7, 2006http://www.boingboing.net/2006/04/07/word_of_the_day_fros.html
George Dyson explains my favorite (descriptive if not lengthy) German word is Froschmausekrieg. It means "war between the frogs and the mice" or the pointlessness of war or feuding.
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Posted by reinkefj
“Looking for Luck in All the Wrong Places”! So that’s what I’ve been doing wrong!
Friday, April 7, 2006http://thedailywtf.com/forums/
{Begin Quote}
Dr. Richard Wiseman's "Four Principles," devised to help people increase their fortune are particularly interesting.
- Principle One: Maximise Chance Opportunities
- Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches
- Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune
- Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good
{End Quote}
Hmmm, taken under advisement.
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Posted by reinkefj
Question: Best ways to win money in a casino
Friday, April 7, 2006http://brainreactions.net/brainstorming/index/641
You have to realize that "winning" money from a casino is a Herculean heavy lift. I am a veteran of about twenty weeks of vacation in vegas and innumerable "free" hotel visits to AC. In all my trips, I would say without written records that I have only had five or so "winning" trips (i.e., my definition is arriving home with more money than I left with).
Having said that, there are times, when in the short run, you can take some money away. But, you have to be very skillful. It's way to easy to "revert to the mean" (i.e., lose it all back).
After our second trip to vegas, where half way thru frau and I were both tapped out and actually hit the atm, we knew we needed a better "system". In case you were wondering, "reversion to the mean" saved us that trip and we ended up down only about two hundred each. A stunning reversal.
We developed, independently, our concept of "enveloping". Basically we divided what we were willing to lose into session, day, and trip limits. At first, we literally sat in the hotel room with a box of envelopes and stuffed cash into them. We had expense money that was not ever used to gamble. We divided the day into: morning, afternoon, and night (session limits). At the end of a session, we returned the change to that envelope. So if we had a 100$, but only lost 50, 50 went back to the envelope. If we were ahead, that went into the envelope. At the end of the trip, we merged all the money back together. (If one of us was behind, we split the loss. If we were both behind, we averaged the loss. And, on those occasions we were both ahead, we averaged the winnings.)
Hence, recognized early on the power of cutting your losses. Often, trips could be "salvaged" from the "change". It was rare after that realization for us to ride the Titanic underwater.
We also recognized that it was critical not to lose back your winnings. So for example, when I play Let It Ride, I play a very disciplined money management strategy (I'm a wild optimist!), it gets me away from the table. I accept a string of small loses for the occasional big hit. Again, no written records, but I have played at least 50 sessions. My system minimizes my loss to 49$ per session. But I have had at least a dozen sessions where I have won more than 500$ and two sessions where I won over a thousand. It's a tough game with a big house edge, but it is possible to "win".
Also, one has to consider the comps. Usually, when we were going to AC regularly, we never paid for a hotel room and rarely paid for meals.
One has to be sensitive to the environment, on at least four occasions, we "discovered" a winning "system".
My shazam moment was in vegas when I was out for a conference at the Sands and they had just introduced paper tickets as a loyalty program. The machine would count down and give you a ticket after so many plays. The tickets could be redeemed for trinkets. The conference had a 15 minute break between sessions. I'd go out "ticket hunting" with 40$ at each break. I'd only play machines with 3 or less on the counter. I "cleaned up". That trip was stunning. My theory was that people would not leave a low count machine unless they had busted out. If they'd busted, it meant the machine was "primed" to hit. Three times, I had to call my wife down to wait for payoffs and tax forms (i.e., the win was in excess of $1199). And, we literally had a suitcase full of junk for my nieces and nephews. That trip was one of our winners. As I recollect we had 8k$ in tax forms and I came home ahead about 7500$. (Remember we split.) On two occasions, I was one notch off winning a multi million dollar progressive.
There was a time when we very hot on Battleship slot machines until they changed the payoff. Similarly, the Cleopatra machines.
We also did very good during the Freemont casino's experiment with "repetition" on roulette. Basically bet a dollar on a number, if it repeats you get 100$ and if it repeats again, you got a $1,000, again $10,000. It was only up for a few days during one of our week long vacations. Frau hit it for 500 and I hit it for 300. Rumor hath it that an Oriental lady to them for $250k before they closed it down. Midway thru our three day, they limited it to a dollar bet. Limit two $ on a number. Rumor hath it that the lady had been playing multiple black chips on it. Having seen my wife "parlay" on the roulette and craps tables (i.e., repeatedly hit the same favorite number several times in a row), I know statistics. And, I "knew" that we don't understand everything in the real world, but I KNEW that repeating numbers in roulette were not THAT unusual.
So my advice is keep your eyes open and a rubber band on your wad.
If you see a weak spot, test it. If you win, thank your lucky stars.
As always, your mileage may vary and free advice is worth what you pay for it.
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Posted by reinkefj
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