December 5, 2013

There were 3 posts published on December 5, 2013 (this is page 1 of 1).

Paying the freight

It was a difficult decision to add advertisements back to MT.Net after flirting with them last year. I don’t want to tart up my blog too much but yet if there were a way I could make money by blogging I figured it was worth a try.

I’m not making bank by any stretch but I was delighted to discover that for the month of November this blog paid for itself for the very first time. My advertising revenue exceeded my hosting costs.

Don’t count on me quitting my day job anytime soon but at least I’m cash-flow positive!

Update 12 Dec: Math is hard. I got the monthly and overall balances mixed up. Turns out I made $15 last month from web ads, not $35. It’s a start, though, right?

Review of the Q-See QT4760-8H4 camera set

After a recent break-in in the neighborhood, I bought a security camera system from Costco. It’s not that we necessarily need it for security but I’m a wanna-be James Bond and have long wanted a camera system. Last weekend I spent many knuckle-busting hours stringing cable through our attic and hanging cameras.

I took a few moments tonight to write up a review of the system we bought, a Q-See 16 Channel Full D1 Security System with 1TB HDD and 8 650TVL Cameras, or known by Q-See as model number QT4760-8H4. Bottom line: it’s a good system but not a great system. Costco has it for $200 off until the end of December and for that reason it’s worth checking out.

Below is the review I posted on the Costco website, which hopefully should be public in the next day or two. You read it here first!

I’ve had my Q-See system running for a few days and have some thoughts.

This system provides surprisingly good video for the price. It is a good overall value. The cameras seem sturdy, provide good resolution, and the LEDs illuminate better than I anticipated. The documentation is superior to that of most products I’ve bought. Hardware-wise, this is a solid system.
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Just Say No to D.A.R.E.?

Whatever you do, don’t think of purple elephants on pogo sticks.

I mean it.

Don’t.

Just Say No.

Did it work? Are you blissfully unaware of purple elephants on pogo sticks? I’m guessing not. Chances are, you weren’t thinking at all of purple elephants on pogo sticks until I told you not to think about them.

I believe it’s the same with kids and drugs. I believe kids would rather do a gazillion other things before drugs, yet there is a program called D.A.R.E. which goes into schools and attempts to educate kids about drugs.

While I applaud the intention of the program and I know the many fine police officers who participate in D.A.R.E. truly care about the kids, I’m unsure that D.A.R.E. is the right approach. Numerous academic studies have shown that D.A.R.E. has had a negligible impact on teen drug use. Negligible. In some cases, D.A.R.E. may have actually increased drug use. Millions and millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on this program and the results are dismal.
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