Alzheimer's Battery

The Nickel Cadmium (NiCd, NiCad) battery on one of my cordless phones gives me about 20 minutes of talk time lately, so I'll waddle over to Batteries Plus® in Addison tomorrow to get a replacement. NiCads are the batteries where you must fully drain them before recharging (the so-called "memory effect"). There are equivalent Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries; they don't recharge as quickly as a NiCad but otherwise are much friendlier. I checked the battery on the other cordless extension and (surprise! surprise!) it uses an NiMH battery. Hmmm.

A friend in Germany returned from holiday (why do so many Europeans take off the entire month of August?) and mentioned South Tyrol .. sounds like a relaxing place. Which reminds me of a question I asked of a friend who lived in Hawaii .. where do Hawaiians go for vacation? (Answer: Lake Tahoe)

With all the talk about identity theft, one of my neighbors pointed me to a gadget sold by Radio Shack™ which remotely alerts you when someone opens your mailbox. You could then peek out the window to confirm that's it's the postman (hopefully). In the case of this neighbor, it was not the postman; he got the license plate of the thief, who now has a new address at the Dallas City Jail. Seems it would've been easier to go to the website for Police Auctions - Repossessed and Confiscated Items - StealItBack.com

My second job after college was as a radio news reporter (long before the Internet) .. I was amused to find this website for journalists: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Radio Shack sells telephone taping gadgets (perfectly legal in Texas and many other states). See
Catalog Home-> Phones & Radio Communications-> Phone Accessories-> Recorders & Ringers-> Recorders. I started down this path after reading Can We Tape? (mentioned in Ben Dover's DMN column)

note to self: Ben's parents were cruel. I can only hope his parents didn't name his sister Eileen (Dover).

Cable or satellite? Ben [finally] cut the cable: Here's why you will, too! was amusing. I subscribe to basic cable (mostly for the local weather radar and the frequently guffawful local access channel 27 (Dallas Community Television)) but my primary connection to the televised world is via DirecTV satellite (except during a thunderstorm).