Well, here it comes. TWENTY FOOT WAVES? 65 mph winds? BLIZZARD conditions? Whiteouts? We have a local scale that goes from 1-10 for these things; we’ve never had a 10 in history. This is supposedly a 10. Whoa.
So stock up and get wherever you have to be by early Friday afternoon. Good luck, guys.
I’m charging my camera, I’ll try to get some pictures.
I want to talk about something that may sound a little weird for a second. Especially to non-chess players. Does anyone else besides me “play chess with life”? I am not the person who coined the term; a friend of mine did. I’ll tell you the setup. I came out of college, joined an aspiring startup I thought looked good. Everyone in the place was in a relationship except me. Now, I didn’t know this, but apparently behind my back there were a lot of weird rumors going around — you know, relatively good looking guy, pretty smart, fairly nice guy — what’s the deal? Apparently the first rumor was that I was banging the receptionist in the copy room. Hehehe. No. There were a few others tossed around, then they arrived at “He’s gay”. *sigh* But then my friend AJ stepped in and said, “No….no…he’s not. I think I know what it is. He’s always talking about chess — he plays chess with life.”
What does that mean? If you don’t play chess, you won’t really understand, but the basic concept is thinking ahead. Anticipating and evaluating the possibilities and outcomes. Also, trying to see the board from your opponent’s point of view. But if you don’t love chess, you don’t know exactly what it feels like.
Well, I know what it feels like. And it can be best summed up in a scene from “Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows” (the second one). Without all the cool slo-mo graphics. Point is, when I meet a woman, I’m already calculating at least 10-20 moves ahead. Dating. Sex. Relationship. Moving in together. Marriage. Pressure to have a child when her biological clock starts ticking. I run as many visualizations of the situation as I can through my head, and try to see what the outcome can be given the information I have. Of course, I’m always absorbing new information, so I’m always re-evaluating. But men, you know there are precious few women you really want to spend any time at all with, really, apart from the sex.
And, of course, this is only an example of one way I play chess with life. I do it with everything. I only mention the above because it’s the story of the genesis of the phrase.
Right, Kip. Shut up and show them the movie.
(Note the chess board in the scene and that when Moriarty braces himself you can see a chess clock)
Heyo, I have most things back up and running, although I seem to have lost all my comments. *shrug*. The only other problem is that I think some work is being done on the server my database is hosted on, so occasionally you may see a “Error connecting to database” message, in which case simply wait a minute or two, come back, and reload. Thanks for bearing with me. All apologies.
Hey guys. Sorry, but my database got corrupted; I lost all my comments and I lost a few other things (widgets, etc.) in the process of restoring comments. Bear with me while I fix this. Site currently undergoing maintenance.
Electronic cigarettes, known as e-cigs, are really coming on strong now. You finally have a product that replicates the sensation of smoking and delivers a dose of nicotine to your lungs — with none of the nasty tar stuff or other stuff that kills you. All you are bringing in is water vapor and nicotine. So any health problems from an e-cig will be the exact same health problems you would get from, say, chewing Nicorette gum.
We’re still in the early days, though, and everyone is jumping into the market. We are FLOODED with new choices all of a sudden. It can be incredibly confusing.
First, let me explain how an e-cig works. It’s a battery attached to something called an “atomizer”, which is basically simply a heating element, and on the end clips on a little piece — tank, cartridge, cartomizer, you’ll hear all these words for it, but it’s basically the same thing; it’s the thing that holds the e-liquid. You either press a manual button on the battery, which heats up the atomizer, or, if it’s automatic, you simply take a drag (it will detect you doing it) and it will automatically complete the circuit to the battery, heat the atomizer, and vaporize a small amount of the liquid in your cartridge, turning it into water vapor with nicotine in it. It does not taste exactly the same as smoking a real cigarette, but you will find that, if you have the right ecig and the right liquid, pretty soon you’re going to find this thing able to satisfy your nicotine craving — plus the oral fixation and habit that goes along with it.
The most important component in an e-cig is the atomizer. There are different sort of atomizers with different resistances. The lower the resistance, the more quickly the atomizer will heat up, meaning you will get more vapor, a better throat hit, and so on. Next is the battery. Now on the market are what are called “variable voltage” batteries that allow you to adjust the amount of power being sent to the atomizer, which will also help heat it up the way you prefer it (lower or higher).
Electronic cigarettes generally come in starter kits. If you want something that is going to be different than the kit provides, like a low-resistance atomizer, you will have to buy it separately, in most cases (some will allow you the option of a kit with different parts).
Next up, liquid. Liquid is also very important. There are two types: PG and VG. Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycol. I wasn’t being entirely honest when I said you’re just going to be getting water vapor; you’re going to be getting PG or VG in yourself as well, but there is no proven health risk to either of these compounds; they simply produce more vapor than water. PG has a slightly sweeter taste naturally, produces slightly less vapor, and is the more commonly used liquid. VG produces denser, thicker vapor, but may cause troubles with your vaping as it is a more viscous (thicker) fluid, so the atomizer sometimes has trouble vaping it properly and you’ll get a harsh throat hit. PG and VG come in all sorts of flavors and nicotine strengths. Around 25 mg nicotine is about the top for nicotine content; there’s higher out there, but you don’t see it that often. Obviously, you will need to choice your e-juice carefully and pick your favorite flavor, favorite sort of fluid, and nicotine strength. Also, there a gazillion companies out there making e-liquids. Comb the Internet for user reviews of what you’re looking for. Last note — they do make liquids with no nicotine at all if you want to get off the whole nicotine train entirely.
Final point on the basics before I move on a little — e-cigs basically come in three types. Mini, large, and giant. Mini e-cigs are the sort found at Blu Cigs and feel the most like a real cigarette in your hand, but they also have the smallest batteries, smallest cartridges for liquid, and so on, so you won’t be able to use them for very long before you have to change batteries or cartridges. Since I just mentioned Blu, let me give you my personal opinion on them, as they’re the most marketed e-cig out there — they suck bigtime. Great flavor — for about four puffs. I tried them when they started up, I tried them at every iteration of product design, and they still suck, trust me. Unfortunately, since they’re the most visible, you may get suckered into buying one. I hope you don’t. Some people love them, though, I do have to say. Keep this in mind all the time — you have to find the best e-cig for you, yourself, personally. If you’re a light smoker, maybe a Blu will work for you. Anyway, next up, is large, the most popular being the Joye eGo, which I use myself. These are sort of like mini-cigars in size; if you’ve ever smoked a Hav-a-Tampa, it’s about like that. However, they have MUCH bigger batteries that will last for hours, and bigger cartridges or tanks for the liquid, as well as bigger better atomizers, so you’re going to get more vapor from them and a longer time before you have to recharge the battery or refill the e-juice. Finally: Giant. These usually come in the form of e-cig “modifications” sold separately from the kits, known in the vaping community as “mods”. They replace standard parts from your kits with different ones, the most common being the battery. I advise you, if you are a beginner, to stay away from mods entirely. They are in their infancy, and if you connect the wrong battery the wrong atomizer and so on, you run the risk of the battery exploding on you. I’m not kidding here. Try large first. Do not jump in with *any* mods yet. I’ve been vaping for about five to six years, and I have yet to try a single mod. There are mods for atomizers, cartridges, the list goes on and on. Just stay away for now. At some point I’ll write a separate post dealing with mods.
Now that you have the basic idea, I’ll tell you what the best setup for me has been so far (I am eternally searching for a better setup). Bear in mind that I was almost a 2-pack a day smoker. I have a Joyetech eGo-C Type A (eGo-Changeable “tank” system, tank meaning the liquid is not held by any sort of wadding, but simply straight liquid in a cartridge; Type A is just a difference in shape), with low resistance (“LR”) eGo-C atomizers, and I use 25 mg nicotine Basic brand banana-flavored VG liquid. My batteries are Joye eGo Twists, which are “variable voltage” batteries; they have a dial on the end of them that can change the voltage so you can try to get the optimum amount of power to the atomizer. Vaping heavily, I will have to change batteries roughly every three to four hours. For some people, they last for days. They come in different sizes, and I have the smallest, but the bigger they are, the more unwieldy they are. You’ll have to decide what you want to do yourself here. It’s a tradeoff. More size is better, but looks goofier. I still smoke regular cigarettes but have cut down to almost less than half a pack a day. In the morning, ALL I use is my electronic cigarette, and I never feel a craving for the real thing. Sometimes, in fact, when I’m smoking a real cigarette, I’ll wish I was vaping, put the cigarette out, and pick up my e-cig.
This has probably confused you already, even though I’m trying to do the most basic explanation I can; honestly, it still confuses me half the time, seeing all these kits and mods and whatnots out there. And, as I said, I’ve been doing this for six years.
So I’m going to wrap up with the last thing you’ll need to learn to master the basics — the technique of vaping. If you try to smoke it like a regular cigarette, it’s not going to work as well. Here’s what you want to do. You want to take a long, slow, steady, controlled drag, bringing it deep into your lungs (or the back of your throat, or whatever works for you; the key is the long slow drag). Alternatively, you can take a quick puff to heat up the atomizer, then take a longer, less quick drag. That will bring you more vapor, as you’ve pre-heated the atomizer with the initial drag.
I hope this has been a good starting point for you. I will end with my personal, unbiased, honest, sure-as-hell-not-paid-for opinion: Start your vaping experience with a Joye 510, 510-T (same as the 510 but a tank system), eGo, eGo-T or eGo-C (the T and C are both tank systems; the basic eGo is not and the liquid is absorbed in wadding). Joye is sort of basically the industry standard. They were one of the first in the game and they’re one of the best. Most of the ecigs you see out there are ripoffs of genuine Joye products; make sure you get a GENUINE Joye product. I get mine from http://www.cignot.com, mostly because the owner, Vicki, is incredibly good about responding to my questions promptly and efficiently. They have also have genuine Joye products (branded with the CigNot logo — they’re still real Joyetech).
Happy vaping, my friends.
Ah, well, to all you conservatives out there — we tried. We really did try. And the American people spoke, and their message was clear: “We are complete and utter idiots.”
Now comes the part where the liberals tell us how out of touch we are and how we have to change, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Do not listen to them! Do you really think the liberals want us to *win*? No. They want to change us into “Democrat Lite”, basically. So ignore all advice from liberals.
What happened is pretty simple. We had a candidate who was a moderate, and he ran against the first black president. It’s amazing Romney got as close as he did. Now, the mistake the Dems are going to make is they will assume the turnout model will be the same for a white candidate. It won’t. Not even for a female candidate. Not even for Hillary. She’s not going to bring out the same demos that Obama did in droves.
So, pretty much, we live with it. On the bright side, I have a friend who lives in the Bay Area in California, and he was, as he put it, “shocked” that I thought that a lot of Obama’s advantage came from the fact that he was black. Now, I understand that my friend lives in a liberal Bizarro-world bubble, but to be that out of touch with what’s really going on shocks me. And this is not a “racist” statement: if it had been the first black *conservative* president running for re-election, with a less-than-stellar record, I would be absolutely nuts about making sure he got re-elected as well. Anyway, the point is, if people like my liberal friend truly believe that race wasn’t a factor — they will lose in 2016. Probably lose a fair amount of seats in the House and possibly tip control of the Senate to Republicans in 2014.
Us conservatives, however, do not need to change our message. Our message is strong. It resonates with people. Even with one of the most vicious campaign attacks leveled at him, Romney still captured almost half the popular vote. However, here’s where I’m going to start giving a little advice for the way forward for the GOP. The first point is that moderates keep losing elections. Look at every moderate Republican for the last 30 years or so. Reagan, a conservative, took every state in his re-election except Minnesota. Talk about a mandate! George H.W. Bush, however — a moderate — road Reagan’s coattails into his first term, but was rebuked when he ran again. Partly because of the spoiler candidate, H. Ross Perot, but mostly because of his problem with, as he put it, “the vision thing”. Moderates don’t get the conservative vision. They just don’t. And so there’s less reason for us to enthusiastically vote for them. Let’s face it; most of the Romney voters were voting against Obama, not for Romney. To continue with the list of failed moderates — Bob Dole and John McCain. In-between we had W, who was a conservative, although unfortunately he spent like a liberal. Of course, it pales in comparison with the spending Obama has racked up, but that’s a matter for another time. So learn the lesson, GOP — conservatives win, moderates lose. Do you really need any more proof?
The only policy change I think we need to make is on immigration. We need people to shut up about building 800-foot-tall fences, “self-deportation”, and the like. Because we need the Latino vote. If a Marco Rubio is nominated in 2016 and he shows a compassionate, conservative way forward on the immigration front, I think he will be almost unbeatable. Even by Hillary. Remember, Reagan, a staunch conservative, signed one of the largest amnesty bills in history.
Other than that, we need merely refine our message. We need to tailor it so that people realize they agree with it. An example: abortion. Most of us find abortion morally repugnant, and that crosses party lines. Abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare”. I think 90% of the country agrees on that. So instead of uttering these moronic statements about rape (Akin’s an idiot; now, Mourdock, I understood what he was trying to say — all life is precious, even if it comes from a rape — but there are certain things you just don’t say in politics, and that’s one of them), we need to focus our efforts on the areas where people overwhelming support the GOP over the Dems. For instance: partial-birth/live-birth abortion. The vast majority of Americans find the abhorrent practice of partial-birth abortion…well, abhorrent. So let’s focus our energy on that message. Let’s propose a ban on partial-birth abortion. I dare — I double-dog dare — the Democrats to run on a platform of unfettered partial-birth abortion.
What I’m trying to tell you here is to fear not. Our message has not failed. We simply couldn’t get a candidate exciting enough to beat the incumbent, first black president in US history. Which unnerves me a bit, because we’re not exactly following MLK Jr.’s dream of judging people by the “content of their character” and not the “color of their skin”. We quite clearly re-elected a president with one overriding reason being simply because he was black. Not that I would have been any less vehement in trying to re-elect the first conservative black president, as I said. But we certainly are far from a “post-racial” society.
Our message resonates. Our message works. Our policies are the right ones. It’s just a shame that we have to wait four more years to get a crack at selling that message again to the American public. Well, two years, I guess; hopefully in 2014 we can increase our majority in the House, and maybe grab the Senate, and block everything Obama is trying to do. Sometimes gridlock is a good thing. If gridlock is keeping bad policy from going forward, God bless it. And it was, by the way, intended to do just that. Despite our modern view of the Presidency overriding the other branches of government, the checks and balances are in place precisely so that one president can’t effectively destroy the country. Despite that, Obama has a nasty habit of simply ramming his policies into place (witness what happened with Obamacare) — and in the last 90 days, he has put into place over six thousand new regulations on business. Job-stifling regulations. Liberal regulations. He’s putting lead ankle weights on business owners and telling them they’ll just have to run faster.
That, my friends, is a message that the American people will eventually rebel against. 2012 is over; we lost. But it’s not, by any means, a reason to throw our hands up in the air, say, “Well, we obviously have to become liberals!”, and change our message of individual liberty and individual responsibility. Our message works. But sometimes our messengers screw it up for us.
Have some faith and all will be well.
Okay, a little while ago I posted a piece on how to fix some of the lost features in the iOS 6 “update”. I recommended a free app that would let you use Street View.
However, there’s a better way to get Street View and all of Google Maps back. Here’s how to do it.
1. On your iDevice, bring up Safari.
2. Go to maps.google.com
3. In the top left-hand corner, tap the arrow button in Safari (the one you use to share links on Twitter, Facebook, etc).
4. Choose the option, “Show on Home Screen”.
5. Now when you go to your home screen, Google Maps will be there.
6. Open up the Safari Google Maps bookmark from your home screen (the one I just mentioned above).
7. Now you’re in Google Maps.
8. To get to Street View, enter an address, then, at the bottom, a little blue icon of a person will appear.
9. Tap on that little blue icon of a person.
10. Boom, there’s Street View, in full panorama mode.
Hope this helps!
