Perhaps it was all bunk, but I think one does need to keep in mind we were not looking for underground water. We were looking for iron pipes that just happened to be carrying water. If this is the only concentration of iron in the area it's pretty clearly going to have an impact on the magnetic field in the immediate vicinity. If metal deposits can have an impact on magnetic compasses, it doesn't seem too far fetched for them to have some effect on steel rods that may have a slight magnetic or static charge.

My recollection is that it didn't work on newer homes that had copper pipes coming from the water main. Use of copper pipes for carrying water was still a relatively recent development at that point. Most homes at that time had iron pipes coming in from the street.

Decades ago I worked during the summer for the water department. One of our jobs was to find and mark water lines. We actually did use divining rods. No stick with a fork, though. Ours were two pieces of wire, each bent to form an 'L'. You loosely hold the shorter side, keeping the longer sides parallel to the ground and initially to each other. As you pass over the water main the wires cross. It worked quite reliably as long as the water main wasn't too deep. I always assumed it had something to do with magnetism.

Actually, it wasn't my intent to express a preference. I was simply pointing out that government interference prevents a free market from forming. Regardless of where you stand on whether this interference is necessary or not, if you're being honest, you have to admit it distorts the market, in this case to the point that nothing remotely resembling a truly free market is allowed to form.

As for Walmart, I'm afraid your one-word argument is not sufficient. It's not at all obvious to me how Walmart prevents the market entry of competing companies. I'm thinking right now of a particular Walmart I'm familiar with. Within five minutes of this Walmart are two other similar discount department stores, one smaller department store, a major electronics chain store, four grocery stores, two hardware stores, and literally dozens of other smaller specialty stores that compete with Walmart on the goods they sell. All these stores have been doing business in these locations for at least five years.

The free market works fine. The problem is you don't have a free market. There are three or more levels of government with multiple agencies, each with their own agenda, all creating barriers to entry (i.e. regulations). If it was just a matter of paying for right of way and building the infrastructure you'd see loads of competition. Admittedly, the cost of entry is high with systems like land lines, cell phones, and wired internet, but you would see it happening a lot more without all the regulations and control by various levels of government.

Initially, the competition would be for the areas most likely to provide a profit. Economically depressed areas would get slighted. But that's the free market. You take your product to the customers who are most likely to buy. Insisting that everyone have access to the same level of service for the same price may be considered fair by many, but it's not a free market.

My understanding is Google is being very selective about where they roll out service in KC. Make a deposit to demonstrate your willingness to pay for our service. When enough people in your neighborhood join in, we'll provide you with service. KC wanted this badly enough to keep their regulatory instincts in check and allow Google to develop the service with free market forces.

Clearly the schools are failing badly on the classical education front. This is the third time recently I've seen Trojan Horse misused. (Not the quote. That's pointing out the flaw in the complaint.) For Android to be a Trojan Horse Google would have to be somehow disguising their attempt to capture the mobile market. I don't think they've fooled anyone.

My favorite was when Obama referred to a Republican plan as "disguised as a Trojan Horse". Think about that. It would be like Clark Kent dressing up as Batman. Or maybe it's like those nesting Russian dolls. It only looks like a Trojan Horse on the outside. Open it up and inside... surprise!... it's a Trojan Horse.

Be polite? Sure. Smile? What have you got to smile about? You're in a hurry. You've just been made to wait in a long line, empty your pockets, remove your shoes, unpack half your carry-on luggage, and risk having your valuables stolen while they sit unattended at the end of the conveyor while some clown in blue is checking your package for heaven knows what. What you have to look forward to is putting your shoes back on without benefit of any chairs in the area, repacking your carry-on while passengers behind you are impatiently waiting for you to get out of the way, and being sure you've actually collected all your personal effects before rushing out of this island of traveler terror. Unless you're really into having strangers of the same gender fondle your privates, smiling would seem to be one of the least natural responses to the situation. Downright suspicious.

I always do my best to look bored and mildly annoyed. Since that's how I usually feel, it's not much of a stretch. Acting natural is the best approach and I can't see smiling as a natural reaction to this major annoyance.

Overall, I think your advice is pretty good, but I'd keep the smiling to an absolute minimum. At best they'll think you're weird for apparently enjoying this circus of inconvenience and annoyance. At worst they'll think you're trying to act non-threatening and pull you aside for even more security fun.

Perhaps this depends on the state, but when I last filed for unemployment the state withheld it for several months. When I finally got hold of someone there they said my former employer claimed they'd given me a big severance package so I wasn't eligible. I laughed and said I'd not only NOT gotten a severance package, but it was like pulling teeth to get my last regular check from them. The person from unemployment said, "Oh. Okay, you're approved. You should see a direct deposit in a couple days for the full amount we owe you back to your original date of eligibility."

The most arduous part of the whole thing was playing phone tag with the unemployment folks. They accepted my word on everything.

This would be a valuable observation if you had first spent 18 months at the Windows command line. Of course, very few people are going to be willing to spend 18 months to get up to speed with using an OS.

For the expert, the command line is hard to beat for speed and efficiency. For anyone who isn't an expert, the command line is a major hindrance. They do far better with the point and click graphical interface. So I'm not sure better efficiency after 18 months of training is really a big selling point to most people.

The fact that it may be psychologically easier to part with coins than bills has nothing to do with inflation. It may explain why you have less money in your pocket at the end of the week, but it has no impact on the cost of goods.

Nonsense. I was building a big server around that time and was keeping a very close eye on prices. The cheapest I ever saw was $89, and that was for a 5400RPM drive, not a 7200RPM. And the $89 was a sale.

Google has had my phone number for years. To my knowledge I've yet to receive a single call that originated from Google or someone to whom Google gave my phone number.

I'm all for identifying evil as evil, but it would be nice to have some actual evidence before making the accusation.

Given online prices and quality (if you know the right places to shop) combined with next day delivery in many areas, it's gotten to where you need to be REALLY desperate to pay Best Buy prices for interconnect parts. When they're charging literally 10 to 20 times what it costs to buy an equivalent item online, that instant gratification thing is really costing you.

Cables are to Best Buy as soda is to McDonald's.

And, actually, as Best Buy prices go, $57.63 for TWO SATA cables isn't that bad. A couple years ago I had an immediate need for a USB cable. They wanted $50 for ONE. I decided my need wasn't that great. Ordered ten online (to meet minimum order requirements) and got them for $12 plus shipping. I was tempted to take the other nine and hang out in front of Best Buy offering to sell them for "half price".

I think I have all of two OTA network shows on my regular viewing schedule. Everything else I watch is either from cable-only networks or the premium stations. For my money TNT, USA. FX, and A&E have far better programming than OTA. I honestly don't remember the last time I followed a show on ABC. And NBC has had only one show in the last several years I found interesting. I don't eschew OTA channels because they're OTA, I do it because their content is of little interest.

I will grant you that the picture quality over cable is pathetic. I wish they'd dump those fringe channels watched by just a small handful of people and give the bandwidth back to the rest of the channels.

There are taxes on the electricity produced from the gas and coal. With solar panels at least some of the power will be produced at the point of consumption with no utility company or governmental agency involved, hence no taxes.

It's similar in concept to the states that are realizing the shift to electric vehicles will hit them hard in the gas tax pocket so they're making moves to shift to a tax on the miles driven regardless of the power source of the vehicle.

To say they will tax sunshine is somewhat euphemism. They'll actually find a way to tax the electricity generated by the solar panels on your roof.