avid Richards of Australia's Smart House and Channel News is such a bad plagiarizer. Even when he copies my stories almost verbatim, he still can't get it right.
I was kind enough to edit David's sad rip-off of my exclusive story on Elan's new g! control system. I emailed him to let him know that I was not going to help him out again. He will have to find someone else to edit my stories for him.
I do have to give him some credit, though. At least he managed to spell Elan correctly. When he ripped off my Colorado vNet story, he kept referring to the company as "Colarado" vNet. Aussies!
Read:
CE Pro's Elan story
David's Elan story
Monday, December 21, 2009
More gems from plagiarizer David Richards; at least he spelled 'Elan' correctly
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 11:32 AM 0 comments
Labels: David Richards
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Whole new meaning: Remote control battery charge
The Beacon-News reports:
Aaron Doan, 50, of the 0-99 block of Blackhawk Springs, Plano, was charged with felony domestic battery Wednesday after Sandwich police arrested him at Sandwich Manor, 216 E. Hall St., police said. Doan was there visiting a woman with whom he had been in a previous relationship, according to police, and the woman complained Doan had struck her in the face with a remote control.
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 5:29 AM 0 comments
Labels: remote control
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Iron image: Jesus or HDMI eye pattern?
According to the Boston Globe, she shared the photo on Facebook, and was reassured by friends that they, too, saw Jesus on the iron.
"So I said, 'OK, I'm not crazy,'" Coady said.
Funny thing is ... I received the same image from HDMI guru and CE Pro contributor Jeff Boccaccio who says, "When you turn the iron sideways, it looks like an HDMI eye pattern."
Of course, I have my own ideas:
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 8:07 AM 1 comments
Labels: separated
Friday, November 27, 2009
Only in Texas: Help save the room where Lee Harvey Oswald boarded
Dallas Star-Telegram reports:
The 1930s-era home, two miles from Dealey Plaza, is showing signs of age.Wait ... it gets better:
Its red shingled roof leaks. The ceiling is peeling in places. The structure needs foundation work.
Even though two rent-paying tenants live in her basement, Hall says she doesn’t have money to make repairs. So she’s doing what neither her grandmother ("she was very embarrassed that Oswald lived here") nor Hall’s mother, Fay Puckett, who later lived in the home, would do.
At the urging of Ken Holmes Jr., a Dallas historian and historical tour guide, Hall agreed to permit the public into her home to view a room which will forever be linked with one of the most infamous crimes in history.
A donation box rests inside the front door of the dated living room.
The sign reads:
"Help Restore the Lee Harvey Oswald Room and Beckley Rooming House."
Hall hopes to use donations to restore the room to appear as it did Nov. 22, 1963.
The bed and other original furnishings, she said, are stored at an undisclosed location.
Hall said that on that historic date 46 year ago, either the FBI or Dallas police searched Oswald’s belongings and left with the bedsheets, which upset her grandmother. Johnson, she said, had as many as 16 roomers living under her roof.
"She wanted those sheets," Hall said, "not because who slept on them. She was very pragmatic. She could have used them."
This month the gray fedora that strip club owner Jack Ruby wore when he fatally shot Oswald sold at a Dallas auction for $45,000.
What might Oswald’s bedsheets be worth?
"I dunno," Hall said. "But somebody has ’em somewhere."
With a laugh she made a public plea.
"If you have ’em, I’d like ’em back!"
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 6:35 AM 2 comments
Labels: Texas
Only in Texas: City saves house where Oswald kept gun
City taxes hard at work...
IRVING -- A Dallas suburb has agreed to pay $175,000 for the house where Lee Harvey Oswald stored the rifle used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.[More from San Antonio Express]
The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that the sum the Irving City Council agreed to pay is far more than the $84,000 value the Dallas Central Appraisal District lists for the property.
But Mayor Herbert Gears told the newspaper it's worth it because the house is a piece of history. The city has not yet decided what to do with the house.
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 6:19 AM 0 comments
Labels: Texas
Thursday, November 19, 2009
A woman scorned
On the first day, she sadly packed her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases.
On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things.
On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining-room table, by candle-light; she put on some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar, and a bottle of spring-water.
When she'd finished, she went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimps dipped in caviar into the hollow centre of the curtain rods.
She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.
On the fourth day, the husband came back with his new girlfriend, and at first all was bliss.
Then, slowly, the house began to smell.
They tried everything; cleaning, mopping, and airing-out the place.
Vents were checked for dead rodents, and carpets were steam cleaned.
Air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought into set off gas canisters, during which time the two had to move out for a few days, and in the end they even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting. Nothing worked!
People stopped coming over to visit.
Repairmen refused to work in the house. The maid quit.
Finally, they couldn't take the stench any longer, and decided they had to move, but a month later - even though they'd cut their price in half - they couldn't find a buyer for such a stinky house.
Word got out, and eventually even the local realtors refused to return their calls.
Finally, unable to wait any longer for a purchaser, they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place.
Then the ex-wife called the man and asked how things were going. He told her the saga of the rotting house. She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for having the house.
Knowing she could have no idea how bad the smell really was,he agreed on a price that was only 1/10 th of what the house had been worth ... but only if she would sign the papers that very day.
She agreed, and within two hours his lawyers delivered the completed paperwork.
A week later the man and his girlfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home .....
... and to spite the ex-wife, they even took the curtain rods!
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 10:18 AM 0 comments
Friday, November 13, 2009
Keeping abreast
Apple announced today that it has developed a breast implant that can store and play music. The iTit will cost from $499 to $699, depending on cup and speaker size. This is considered a major social breakthrough, because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 1:12 PM 2 comments
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Strange Google Alert
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 3:43 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Great bureaucracy ideas #213: Office of Parenting
15 October 2009
Editor, Los Angeles Times
Dear Editor:
In her open letter to Richard Riordan, Esther Jantzen starts off well by discussing the importance to children's welfare of good parenting ("Dear Richard Riordan," Oct. 15). But she soon goes completely off the rails by proposing "a federal and state Office of Parenting Education and a massive marketing campaign about best parenting practices."
Has the Cult of Politicization become so hypnotic that sober people sincerely believe that all serious problems can be solved by government bureaucrats? Is this cult's influence now so great that it blinds us to the reality that any "Office of Parenting Education" will be a stage upon which rival political extremes - from Biblical literalists to Vegan Nudists for Hemp - routinely joust with each other for influence over parenting? Do persons such as Ms. Jantzen not worry that a bureaucracy charged with "educating" parents will balloon, in budget and power, to eventually intrude itself into the most intimate and private aspects of family life?
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
George Mason University
http://www.cafehayek.com/
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 6:09 AM 0 comments
Labels: capitalism
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Poll: Are you a geek just because you host a Win 7 launch party?
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 3:21 AM 1 comments
Labels: Windows 7
Responsible party tips for Win 7 Launch Party
Serving alcohol.
- Designate a bartender who can serve your guests and keep an eye on how much everyone is drinking. The Federal Dietary Guidelines define moderate drinking as no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women.
- Remember: alcohol is alcohol. It is important to understand that a standard serving of beer (12 ounces), wine (five ounces) and spirits (a cocktail with 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits) each contains the same amount of alcohol.
- Make sure that you provide food to complement your cocktails. Consider food pairings to enhance the flavors of your chosen cocktails: fresh seafood and breads accentuate vodka cocktails, spiced and smoked meats and cheeses complement Bourbon and Scotch whiskies, and fruit enhances rum and tequila flavors.
- Make available non-alcohol beverages for your guests. Create festive non-alcoholic punch for those guests who choose not to drink alcohol.
- Make sure your guests have a safe way home either through designated drivers or a taxi. Have local taxi service numbers available for your guests.
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 2:56 AM 2 comments
Labels: Windows 7
Friday, October 2, 2009
Celebrities not getting enough voice in healthcare debate
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 8:43 AM 0 comments
Labels: capitalism
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Even stupid people have B.A. degrees
Well, this doesn't help my own personal cause, but I do agree with Charles Murray whose rant was published in the New York Times Magazine.
Do Away With B.A.
Discredit the bachelor’s degree as a job credential. It does not signify the acquisition of a liberal education. It does not even tell an employer that the graduate can put together a logical and syntactically correct argument. It serves as rough and unreliable evidence of a degree of intelligence and perseverance — that’s it. Yet across much of the job market, young people can’t get their foot in the door without that magic piece of paper.
As President Obama promotes community colleges, he could transform the national conversation about higher education if he acknowledges the B.A. has become meaningless. Then perhaps three reforms can begin: community colleges and their online counterparts will become places to teach and learn without any reference to the bachelor’s degree; the status associated with the bachelor’s degree will be lessened; and colleges will be forced to demonstrate just what their expensive four-year undergraduate programs do better, not in theory but in practice.
CHARLES MURRAY
Murray is the W. H. Brady scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of ‘‘Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality.’’
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 4:13 PM 2 comments
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Who took this picture of me?!
I was hoping I didn't live up to my Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure.
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 11:21 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Hotel fees ... are you kidding me?
Do hotels really think they're fooling anyone by charging a base rate, and then tacking on a "resort fee"?
At least I've seen that one before, but this is a new one: housekeeping gratuity fee.
Indeed, my hotel for the CEA Forum was only $209 per night ... plus a $10 resort fee ... plus a $2 housekeeping gratuity fee.
Now there's a fine incentive for the housekeeping staff. Here's an idea: why doesn't the hotel just foot their bill instead? Or just charge $211 or $221 for the hotel room.
This just in:
Cancellation Policy: Reservations that are cancelled within 72 hours of arrival or do not arrive on the scheduled arrival date will be charged one night's room rate, tax, and resort fee.Oh goodie, I get to keep that $2/night gratuity (but I guess I'm still paying for Internet access, the gym and USA Today).
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 12:33 PM 0 comments
David Richards doesn't EXACTLY steal from TWICE
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 5:44 AM 2 comments
Labels: David Richards
Monday, September 28, 2009
How David Richards covers Colorado vNet
My favorite Aussie plagiarizer, David Richards of 4Square Media/Smart House, can't even get it right when he pilfers my stuff. This is from his original Colorado vNet story:
In the USA Colarado vNet has indicated that the company would respond to requests for (paid) technical support, but dealers say their phone calls have not been returned.This is my version:
Since Tuesday, vNet has indicated that the company would respond to requests for (paid) technical support, but dealers say their phone calls have not been returned.The one thing that was original in David's version was "Colarado."
Here's another gem from David:
One of the problems the Company had was that they still manufactured their products in Loveland, Colarado, which was expensive when compared with manufacturing in Asia, which is where most automation brands have their products made.Again, note the spelling of "Colarado." Now we know the first goof wasn't just a typo. Perhaps I am vain to assume David got this idea from my Who Would Buy Colorado vNet story. But, assuming he did, this is what I wrote:
The company manufactures quite a bit of its product in Colorado, which can be costly.David's conclusions are far too dramatic.
Thankfully, he didn't steal this one from me:
Currently Colorado vNet which makes IP based systems similar to Control4...Yeah, just like.
Posted by Julie Jacobson at 3:31 AM 0 comments
Labels: David Richards























