FYI internal antennas work on radio waves. If you read your cell phone's manual, it states: "Your device is basically a radio transmitter and receiver".
I bought a 3.5mm stereo male to RF female and connected it to an antenna (meant for t.v.'s but it said it picked up radio as well). I plugged the 3.5mm into my headphone jack and got nothing, not even a blip of reception. Not sure if this is because I "Frankensteined" it, but I am giving up on that theory.
Checked out the R1/R2/G ports on the back. By inserting a twisty tie into the R1 port, it seemed to give me a bar of boost, which is better than none. I tried all the ports and different combos with different arrangements of the wire (Tesla's coil, straight, bent at 90 degrees, etc.) and it seemed to not make a difference. The one marked "G" does nothing for the service signal. I believe that is used for wifi signal, which doesn't help reception. "R1" seems to be steady with one bar and sometimes spikes to three, but this is only momentarily. Needless to say this does not help a great deal. I still cannot make phone calls.
The only productive thing that happened is that with the one bar I can send and receive text messages now. I turned off my wifi as well, which might have helped.
Sad to say, I am just going to get a land line phone.
This article gives some bad advice. As John K. noted, many countries require foreign visitors to carry their passport at all times, to prove that they have a legal right to be in the country, and officials such as the police can (and do!) regularly stop people to ask to see their passports. Not carrying the required documentation can see you owing huge fines, in jail, even deported. Furthermore, if you're involved in any incident - a traffic accident, for example - you will often have to show your ID, which would only mean your passport if you're outside of your home country. Also, in most cases, a copy of your passport is NOT an acceptable substitute for the original, and there are many cases where we might assume that showing a passport isn't necessary and try to refuse, when in fact it is actually a legal requirement (hotel check-in in many countries springs to mind as an example). So, when traveling, always find out what the local requirements are re: passports, and find a safe way to meet the requirements. Carrying your passport all the time is worrying and inconvenient, yes, but being caught without it when you need it is often much worse.
sure you get a ton of AA's out of a 6v battery but keep in mind whats the Mah of these individual batteries, because thats what i pay for when i buy a duracell coppertop or an energizer lithium. but if you really want aa's that badly head over to the 99 cent store where you can buy a bran new pack of crappy aa's that wont last 2 days.
Wow. What a great idea. I love watching reality shows because it is a study in human behavior. It never occurred to me that beyond the possibility of becoming famous, there could be actual rewards (new kitchen). Thanks for the article.
I'm going through a foreclosure and my attorney has advised me not to have any money in the bank so i will hide cash somewhere in my house that is until they take my house!
This is a case of the ends trying to justify the means: you have an iPhone, now let's see if you can figure out a way for it to save you money. How many people bought an iPhone (and its contract) as a way to save money? Uh, yeah, I didn't think so.
I also always check out www.google.com/products and either enter in the description of the item or the UPC code. It maybe takes 30 seconds and you know if you're getting a good price or where to find the best!
When using card board to make signs, the fastest way to do a lot of bold lettering is with black paint (or other dark color) and a 2-inch brush. I am always amazed to see folks who try to do signs with magic markers. I just use my can of house paint I use for my wooden screen doors.
I use a large cardboard box with high sides to contain a plastic litter-box container, so that when the cat digs, the litter doesn't go everywhere. When we have a kitten, we cut a special door in the box.
The wholesale club has a bin of free-but-weird boxes that were used as display boxes... might be a double-bin with open top and front. These sorts of boxes are nice for my "pantry" of bulk-stored items, especially brown and powdered sugar that comes in plastic bags.
A box with writing can be turned inside out and retaped for a clean mailing box.
I can trace my New England roots back to the 1600s as well, actually descended from the same Mayflower passenger two times. Three of my husbands grandparents came over from Poland, and his other was the daughter of immigrants. Those that immigrated, and their children (who were children during the Depression) tended to be very thrifty. Subsequent, generations however seem to be far less thrifty than my New England relatives. It is quite foreign to me... a big party foe each and every life event, snowmobiles, Corvettes, cruise vacations. By comparison my New England relatives live far more conservatively. Weddings, holiday giving and spending in general seems more downscale. They tend to spend money on things that have permanent value, such as their homes, antiques, books and so on. My mother grew up with National Geographics and vacations to places like Gettysburg.
Nevertheless I do agree with the previous poster about the lack of work ethic among many Americans. And there is no better testimony of the work ethic of immigrants that the annual National Spelling Bee. Very impressive to see such a high percentage of Asian and Indian kids whose parents and grandparents might not have even been able to speak our language... or even use the same alphabet.
Finally somebody who is thinking. I happen to be German. We pay much higher taxes. It is absolutely shocking how much is taken out of your paycheck each month just on taxes, health care, retirement etc. Our system works with tax classes, so if you are single, no children, you are in class I, which means, you are among those, who pay the highest amount of taxes, regardless of your income. I don't know the exact percentage, but it's so high it's maddening, you wonder why you work at all because with jobless benefits you would have more. (ridiculous isn't it?)
6 weeks vacation? No more, the government is planing to cut that down to 4 weeks a year. (yep, the Germans are angry about that), free university, no longer, we have to pay tuition as well, not as high as in the US, but enough. Daycare isn't free either, costs about 200 dollars a month per child. (when I was a kid it was free). Free health care oh no, just like in the US Military they deduct a certain amount of your income for health care, the employee pays one part, the employer another and then they still charge you co-payments at the doctors office. However, you will hardly find someone who does not have health care, if for some reason you can't pay your part (e.g. you are jobless), the government takes over. Same goes for retirement benefits, the employee pays one half, the employer the other, but believe me, you cannot live from that money once you retire and the also increased the retirement age from 65 to 68 I believe.
We also have shorter store hours, there is no such thing as a 24 hour Walmart. Store hours are usually from about 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. for grocery stores, department stores usually open at 9 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., smaller stores may not open until 10 a.m., depending where you live. On Saturdays they close sooner, on Sundays they don't open at all. Offices of any kind are usually not open on weekends.
So what makes the German more productive in less hours? I can't make that assumption that Americans are less productive, that would be so wrong, Americans are very hard workers, who put in long hours on the job and I think exactly that is the problem. An overworked employee will just lose it at some point, with that productivity goes down, due to the lack of work and private life balance. I believe that is a BIG issue in the US.
I just wanted to point out that male pattern baldness comes from the mother's side. That is, if your mother's father was bald, then likely you will be bald too. Since you are the boys' father, your hair genes will likely be irrelevant. THeir baldness might not be related to the use of witch hazel.
I always eat something and take ibuprofen with a big glass of water before hitting the sack when I've had a few drinks. It works 100% of the time to avoid a hangover.
Answer, sort of, for internal antennas:
Capitalism at its best! I assume that they are doing away with external antennas to make it harder to fix it ourselves and make us buy their boosters (some I have seen for more than $300).
I have a Samsung M900 and was curious how these antenna boosters work without a external antenna, so I took the thing apart and searched for the answer.
The short answer:
Internal antennas are strips of metal that attach to the circuit board with a small white antenna cable that has snap-in connections.
Here are the websites that I found this info: http://www.ehow.com/how_6858048_do-samsung-blackjack-apart-antenna_.html
This one above tells you about the white cable. http://www.zdnet.com.au/photos-cracking-open-the-iphone-339279684.htm
This one is for an iphone, but it is basically the same components and it has lovely photos! This guy is awesome!
I am pretty sure if you tried to attach a piece of wire to this it would short circuit your phone (I wasn't even tempted to try). If you are not delicate with electronics I do not recommend you dissembling your phone. It took me 3 tries to put mine back together and get it working properly.
I do not recommend the ones that adhere to the back of your phone. I cannot find the site, but it showed not much of a boost for those kinds and can possibly damage your phone if you get the wrong one or put it in the wrong place.
Also, there are 3 black plastic squares located on the back (after the back cover is removed) that are labeled "R1", "R2", and "G". I pealed back (its like a plastic sticker) the "R1" and it revealed what looked like a mini RF connector.
Does anyone else have these squares?
I am going to research this more and report what I find. Trust, it was a long adventure trying to find all this information. I am determined to find an answer!
Hope this helps! And remember, if you do any of this, PLEASE be prepared to kill your phone! These new phones are mini computers. Even if you are a computer technician you run the risk of breaking something or short circuiting these delicate (stupid) devices.
I'm first generation American, with both my parents immigrating in the mid-1970's. My parents have a similiar education to yours as neither went past the 8th grade.
As a teen I resented the lifestyle of which they abided by, always feeling deprived of what other children got (allowances, etc.). Now, I wish I had listened to my parents advice about saving. I'm soon to be debt free within the next 18 months and I plan on instilling in my future children what my parents were trying to instill in me.
Thanks, Vincent, for the reminder in keeping what's truly important ahead of material wealth.
Since I live in the boonies, and supplement my propane heat with a cute little wood burning stove, I keep toasty warm wihout paying high heating bills. Of course, it helps that I also live in the woods, and have plenty of free wood to feed my little stove with.
Sometimes the only thing that does the trick for me is a Coca-Cola. (But only Coke--Pepsi is not magical at all.) Something about the bubbles and the formula calms my urpy stomach!
@Kasey, you nailed it! If the two of you approach it as a team and not from different sides then you'll figure it out.
@Tina & Guest, sorry I didn't think to make that clear. Honestly, I don't know much about the financial challenges of same-sex couples but that could make a useful post in the future.
@Charles Congrats on your upcoming wedding!
@Nate, sometimes its easy to get frustrated with money issues in a marriage so I thought I'd point out some bright spots.
@David - yeah if you don't see eye to eye on spending/saving habits that can certainly cause some tension. If they're out shopping at least you'll be racking up the rewards points :)
You left off the one absolute cure that is healthiest for your body and brain. Oxygen. If there is an oxygen bar or you have a relative who is on an oxygen tank, borrow a few minutes worth. Right as rain.
Your daughter totally stole the show Sarah. =)
just dismantled my 6v and found 4 1.5v
Update for internal antennas:
FYI internal antennas work on radio waves. If you read your cell phone's manual, it states: "Your device is basically a radio transmitter and receiver".
I bought a 3.5mm stereo male to RF female and connected it to an antenna (meant for t.v.'s but it said it picked up radio as well). I plugged the 3.5mm into my headphone jack and got nothing, not even a blip of reception. Not sure if this is because I "Frankensteined" it, but I am giving up on that theory.
Checked out the R1/R2/G ports on the back. By inserting a twisty tie into the R1 port, it seemed to give me a bar of boost, which is better than none. I tried all the ports and different combos with different arrangements of the wire (Tesla's coil, straight, bent at 90 degrees, etc.) and it seemed to not make a difference. The one marked "G" does nothing for the service signal. I believe that is used for wifi signal, which doesn't help reception. "R1" seems to be steady with one bar and sometimes spikes to three, but this is only momentarily. Needless to say this does not help a great deal. I still cannot make phone calls.
The only productive thing that happened is that with the one bar I can send and receive text messages now. I turned off my wifi as well, which might have helped.
Sad to say, I am just going to get a land line phone.
P.S. This site is pretty cool about buying a booster and it's worth:
http://home.pacbell.net/mtom168/internalantenna/
This article gives some bad advice. As John K. noted, many countries require foreign visitors to carry their passport at all times, to prove that they have a legal right to be in the country, and officials such as the police can (and do!) regularly stop people to ask to see their passports. Not carrying the required documentation can see you owing huge fines, in jail, even deported. Furthermore, if you're involved in any incident - a traffic accident, for example - you will often have to show your ID, which would only mean your passport if you're outside of your home country. Also, in most cases, a copy of your passport is NOT an acceptable substitute for the original, and there are many cases where we might assume that showing a passport isn't necessary and try to refuse, when in fact it is actually a legal requirement (hotel check-in in many countries springs to mind as an example). So, when traveling, always find out what the local requirements are re: passports, and find a safe way to meet the requirements. Carrying your passport all the time is worrying and inconvenient, yes, but being caught without it when you need it is often much worse.
tweet.http://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/26897073952
tcarolinep at gmail dot com
I'm a subscriber
tcarolinep at gmail dot com (Jc)
sure you get a ton of AA's out of a 6v battery but keep in mind whats the Mah of these individual batteries, because thats what i pay for when i buy a duracell coppertop or an energizer lithium. but if you really want aa's that badly head over to the 99 cent store where you can buy a bran new pack of crappy aa's that wont last 2 days.
Wow. What a great idea. I love watching reality shows because it is a study in human behavior. It never occurred to me that beyond the possibility of becoming famous, there could be actual rewards (new kitchen). Thanks for the article.
I think it will be a cold winter with less snow but mostly cold. I think the cost of this winter will be the same as last year.
I'm going through a foreclosure and my attorney has advised me not to have any money in the bank so i will hide cash somewhere in my house that is until they take my house!
This is a case of the ends trying to justify the means: you have an iPhone, now let's see if you can figure out a way for it to save you money. How many people bought an iPhone (and its contract) as a way to save money? Uh, yeah, I didn't think so.
I also always check out www.google.com/products and either enter in the description of the item or the UPC code. It maybe takes 30 seconds and you know if you're getting a good price or where to find the best!
When using card board to make signs, the fastest way to do a lot of bold lettering is with black paint (or other dark color) and a 2-inch brush. I am always amazed to see folks who try to do signs with magic markers. I just use my can of house paint I use for my wooden screen doors.
I use a large cardboard box with high sides to contain a plastic litter-box container, so that when the cat digs, the litter doesn't go everywhere. When we have a kitten, we cut a special door in the box.
The wholesale club has a bin of free-but-weird boxes that were used as display boxes... might be a double-bin with open top and front. These sorts of boxes are nice for my "pantry" of bulk-stored items, especially brown and powdered sugar that comes in plastic bags.
A box with writing can be turned inside out and retaped for a clean mailing box.
I can trace my New England roots back to the 1600s as well, actually descended from the same Mayflower passenger two times. Three of my husbands grandparents came over from Poland, and his other was the daughter of immigrants. Those that immigrated, and their children (who were children during the Depression) tended to be very thrifty. Subsequent, generations however seem to be far less thrifty than my New England relatives. It is quite foreign to me... a big party foe each and every life event, snowmobiles, Corvettes, cruise vacations. By comparison my New England relatives live far more conservatively. Weddings, holiday giving and spending in general seems more downscale. They tend to spend money on things that have permanent value, such as their homes, antiques, books and so on. My mother grew up with National Geographics and vacations to places like Gettysburg.
Nevertheless I do agree with the previous poster about the lack of work ethic among many Americans. And there is no better testimony of the work ethic of immigrants that the annual National Spelling Bee. Very impressive to see such a high percentage of Asian and Indian kids whose parents and grandparents might not have even been able to speak our language... or even use the same alphabet.
Finally somebody who is thinking. I happen to be German. We pay much higher taxes. It is absolutely shocking how much is taken out of your paycheck each month just on taxes, health care, retirement etc. Our system works with tax classes, so if you are single, no children, you are in class I, which means, you are among those, who pay the highest amount of taxes, regardless of your income. I don't know the exact percentage, but it's so high it's maddening, you wonder why you work at all because with jobless benefits you would have more. (ridiculous isn't it?)
6 weeks vacation? No more, the government is planing to cut that down to 4 weeks a year. (yep, the Germans are angry about that), free university, no longer, we have to pay tuition as well, not as high as in the US, but enough. Daycare isn't free either, costs about 200 dollars a month per child. (when I was a kid it was free). Free health care oh no, just like in the US Military they deduct a certain amount of your income for health care, the employee pays one part, the employer another and then they still charge you co-payments at the doctors office. However, you will hardly find someone who does not have health care, if for some reason you can't pay your part (e.g. you are jobless), the government takes over. Same goes for retirement benefits, the employee pays one half, the employer the other, but believe me, you cannot live from that money once you retire and the also increased the retirement age from 65 to 68 I believe.
We also have shorter store hours, there is no such thing as a 24 hour Walmart. Store hours are usually from about 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. for grocery stores, department stores usually open at 9 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., smaller stores may not open until 10 a.m., depending where you live. On Saturdays they close sooner, on Sundays they don't open at all. Offices of any kind are usually not open on weekends.
So what makes the German more productive in less hours? I can't make that assumption that Americans are less productive, that would be so wrong, Americans are very hard workers, who put in long hours on the job and I think exactly that is the problem. An overworked employee will just lose it at some point, with that productivity goes down, due to the lack of work and private life balance. I believe that is a BIG issue in the US.
Looks like this winter will be a bit warmer than the last one - this should save us some money on heating bills.
I just wanted to point out that male pattern baldness comes from the mother's side. That is, if your mother's father was bald, then likely you will be bald too. Since you are the boys' father, your hair genes will likely be irrelevant. THeir baldness might not be related to the use of witch hazel.
Love this picture!
I always eat something and take ibuprofen with a big glass of water before hitting the sack when I've had a few drinks. It works 100% of the time to avoid a hangover.
Answer, sort of, for internal antennas:
Capitalism at its best! I assume that they are doing away with external antennas to make it harder to fix it ourselves and make us buy their boosters (some I have seen for more than $300).
I have a Samsung M900 and was curious how these antenna boosters work without a external antenna, so I took the thing apart and searched for the answer.
The short answer:
Internal antennas are strips of metal that attach to the circuit board with a small white antenna cable that has snap-in connections.
Here are the websites that I found this info:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6858048_do-samsung-blackjack-apart-antenna_.html
This one above tells you about the white cable.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/photos-cracking-open-the-iphone-339279684.htm
This one is for an iphone, but it is basically the same components and it has lovely photos! This guy is awesome!
I am pretty sure if you tried to attach a piece of wire to this it would short circuit your phone (I wasn't even tempted to try). If you are not delicate with electronics I do not recommend you dissembling your phone. It took me 3 tries to put mine back together and get it working properly.
The solution? I am still working on this. They do make adapters that plug into where your headphone jack is.
Here is a site selling it for $3.05: http://www.goodluckbuy.com/fm-radio-gprs-antenna-mobile-cell-phone-signa...
I do not recommend the ones that adhere to the back of your phone. I cannot find the site, but it showed not much of a boost for those kinds and can possibly damage your phone if you get the wrong one or put it in the wrong place.
Also, there are 3 black plastic squares located on the back (after the back cover is removed) that are labeled "R1", "R2", and "G". I pealed back (its like a plastic sticker) the "R1" and it revealed what looked like a mini RF connector.
Does anyone else have these squares?
I am going to research this more and report what I find. Trust, it was a long adventure trying to find all this information. I am determined to find an answer!
Hope this helps! And remember, if you do any of this, PLEASE be prepared to kill your phone! These new phones are mini computers. Even if you are a computer technician you run the risk of breaking something or short circuiting these delicate (stupid) devices.
:o)
I'm first generation American, with both my parents immigrating in the mid-1970's. My parents have a similiar education to yours as neither went past the 8th grade.
As a teen I resented the lifestyle of which they abided by, always feeling deprived of what other children got (allowances, etc.). Now, I wish I had listened to my parents advice about saving. I'm soon to be debt free within the next 18 months and I plan on instilling in my future children what my parents were trying to instill in me.
Thanks, Vincent, for the reminder in keeping what's truly important ahead of material wealth.
These are awesome tips...I love the imagery of "I'll man the books." Hilarious.
Best tip I think is the "Will I read it test?"...This goes for other purchases too.
Since I live in the boonies, and supplement my propane heat with a cute little wood burning stove, I keep toasty warm wihout paying high heating bills. Of course, it helps that I also live in the woods, and have plenty of free wood to feed my little stove with.
I enjoyed this post, and love Wise Bread!
Sometimes the only thing that does the trick for me is a Coca-Cola. (But only Coke--Pepsi is not magical at all.) Something about the bubbles and the formula calms my urpy stomach!
@Kasey, you nailed it! If the two of you approach it as a team and not from different sides then you'll figure it out.
@Tina & Guest, sorry I didn't think to make that clear. Honestly, I don't know much about the financial challenges of same-sex couples but that could make a useful post in the future.
@Charles Congrats on your upcoming wedding!
@Nate, sometimes its easy to get frustrated with money issues in a marriage so I thought I'd point out some bright spots.
@David - yeah if you don't see eye to eye on spending/saving habits that can certainly cause some tension. If they're out shopping at least you'll be racking up the rewards points :)
You left off the one absolute cure that is healthiest for your body and brain. Oxygen. If there is an oxygen bar or you have a relative who is on an oxygen tank, borrow a few minutes worth. Right as rain.