The coldest winter I ever spent
Archive for 2009
Hurray! One of my all-time favorite comedy-gore movies, Psychos in Love is out on DVD!
This 1987 masterpiece was released on DVD just last week and it’ll be on Netflix tomorrow!
Here’s a pretty good fan-made trailer!
local version:
This feels a little like an “overshare” but hey… I’ve been documenting the treatments I’ve received for my fingernail and toenail fungal infection. Phew, I’ve tried a lot of drugs over the years for this stuff. In high school I had it on my right index finger, then it moved to other fingers, then disappeared from my fingers and on to my toes. After 20 years of treatment (yow) my right big toe is still “yucky”.
Two other blog posts about this:
NonyX Nail Gel – with a hundred great comments
Zetaclear – don’t buy Zetaclear. Here’s why
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A friend of mine introduced me to a new project he’s working on. As the website touts, Etherpad is really real-time collaboration. It lets multiple people work on the same document simultaneously.
I used it to great effect working on a recent document collaboration. I collaborated with 2 other people, making a proposal for the San Francisco Unified School District. Sometimes we worked in person on multiple laptop computers in a coffee shop. Sometimes we worked completely online, using the tools chat functionality. It worked well both ways.
And it is really a hoot watching someone type on their computer and have the each character appear on my screen in realtime, just 1 second delayed.
The product is very new but it accomplishes its core functionality flawlessly. Try Etherpad.
Zetaclear is a scam.
To start with, just look at the ingredients in ZetaClear Clear Nails Solution as mentioned on their website (in order of prevelance).
Undecylenic Acid – Moderately effective. Available from your local Walgreens for $12 per ounce or so. It’s generally available in 10% or 25% strength. I wonder what % is in Zetaclear because they don’t say.
Tea Tree Oil – It’s a pretty good natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. It might help with your nail fungus but it costs $10 for 4 oz at your local Walgreens
Clove Oil – smells nice. Kills fungus? Not so much.
Almond Oil – nice oil for back rubs…
Jojoba Oil – wha?
Vitamin E Oil – Good for lots of things. But not for fungus.
Lemongrass Oil – Smells nice on Thai food. Not so much help with fungus.
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Zetaclear Nail Fungus Relief Homeopathic Spray
Ok, then they have this ZetaClear Oral Homeopathic Spray. This is… Need I remind you that homeopathy is quackery? I’m not talking about herbal medicine here but homeopathy. If you still want to buy ZetaClear Homeopathic Spray… man, I’m not stopping you!
Ingredients in Zetaclear Nail Fungus Relief Homeopathic Spray from their web site
Antimonium Curdum 200C
Arsenicum Album 200C
Mancinella 30C
Nitricum Acidum 30C
Sulphur 12X
Thuja Occidentalis 200C (Arbor Vitæ)
Inactive Ingredients: Alcohol 20% v/v, Purified water.
Just a homeopathic reminder, this product is 20% alcohol and 79.999999999999% water (yes, that many 9’s). All the rest is potent medicine! ;-)
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10-10-11 Update: They used to have a terrible bad return policy. I see today that they have changed it to be reasonable. I have struck out my previous comments (below) about their return policy.
Here is the core of their new return policy from their site
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Here is their previous return policy:
Return Policy
Take a look and see that the company’s return policy charges $10 per bottle restocking fee and doesn’t include return shipping. The stuff doesn’t cost $10/bottle to make! So, when it turns out that it doesn’t work, even AFTER you return it and gotten your partial refund, they will have made money on the deal.
Here is the full text of their TERRIBLE return policy:
7. 90 Day Return Policy:
We take great pride in the superior quality of our products and want you to be pleased with your purchase. We believe in offering the very best value, quality and selection to our customers. You may return any unused and unopened item purchased from us for any reason within Ninety (90) days of your purchase. If you purchased your merchandise through a “Buy Three, Get Three Free” or similar offer, all items must be returned in order to receive a refund. If you return a partial amount of merchandise, you will forfeit the free product and receive a refund on the discount price per item based on the total purchase.
Your complete satisfaction is our ultimate goal. You may return any item shipped by HealthBuy.com or GSCM fulfillment, keeping the following in mind:
* You should return the item to us within 90 days of your purchase date.
* There is a $10.00 restocking fee for each unopened item ($5 if item was less than $20).
* We do not accept items back that have been opened or used. Opened Items are Non Refundable.
* Shipping and Handling Fees are Non Refundable.
Example: If you purchase 1 bottle for the price of $39.95, and returned one unused, or unopened, bottle you would receive a refund (less the restocking fee of $10) for a net refund of $29.95.
To request a refund you must obtain an RMA (Return Authorization). Requests must be made online and submitted with your order information and explanation of the why you wish to return the product. You will recieve your RMA via email once our customer service department has identified your eligibility for a return under our policy. Please do not call for an RMA. If you return your product without a RMA number you will not be refunded. Shipping and handling charges are non-refundable. For returns via mail, you must carefully package the product, you are responsible for the cost of return shipping, and we must physically receive the return within the 90 day period. Health Buy reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to reject any return that does not comply with these requirements. Once your return has been received, a refund check will be issued within 30 days and an e-mail confirmation will be sent.
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There are many discussions about nail fungus going on on my blog. Search my blog for the word “fungus” for more.
No really. Apparently I logged my one millionth visitor on the blog (according to WordPress Stats) just last month or so.
Joyness
This list taken from the Burning Man “Jack Rabbit Speaks” mailing list, V13:#18:04.29.09
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2009 HONORARIUM INSTALLATIONS
Every year Burning Man allocates a percentage of its revenue from ticket sales to funding select art projects that are collaborative, community-oriented and interactive. We do this in order to support the Burning Man art community, and to facilitate the creation of outstanding art for Black Rock City. The vast majority of art installations on the playa, however, are not funded. In 2009, a percentage of your hard-earned ticket money helped to fund the following art installations, for all Burning Man participants to enjoy.
On my home from work on April 1 I came across the Ferocious Few rocking hard in front of the Montgomery Street BART station. They really rock.
You’ve installed the fancy new Windows Desktop Search. You can find things fast and easy on your computer. You’ve got that nice little “Search Desktop” thingie next to your system tray. All is well. But there are some things Desktop Search doesn’t index. There are some things you don’t want Desktop Search to index.
The trouble is, every time you open Windows Explorer and type “ctrl-f”, Windows Search begs to search for you. Every time you have to scroll down to where it says “This folder is not indexed. To search this directory please use Search Companion or add this directory to your index via Options.” You click on “Search Companion” and all is well again.
Here is how to disable Windows Search. I found this from from John’s Adventures.
Open RegEdit (hit Start > Run then type ‘regedit’). Go to the following node:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Desktop Search\DS
Then double-click on ‘ShowStartSearchBand’ and set the value to ‘0’. Close that and you’re done, the next time you click ‘Search’ in explorer, the old, reliable search companion will appear. This applies to operating systems before Windows Vista
If you are a masochist, you can re-enable it by changing ‘ShowStartSearchBand’ back to ‘1’.
Click here to read my blog entry and watch a video were the telemarketing carpet cleaners from 888-587-5482 threaten me.
Their invoice reads “Carpet Steamers | 888-587-5482”