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utilitus

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Everything posted by utilitus

  1. Well, the population of California is a couple of million more than Canada, and about 38% are considered 'hispanic'... The aging demographic will beat a path to quality senior services in select spots world-wide. The zeitgeist may be informed by the subliminal realization that the USD is doomed due to financialized capitalism that needs to feed off of the endless money printing justified by both monetary and now fiscal policy. Providers of such senior services might keep in mind that the income streams expected by such declining clients might seriously decay in coming years.
  2. Thanks again - seems the Mexican mint only produces a certain quantity annually, resulting in what would appear to be a 25% premium over, say, troy oz silver Maple Leafs. In the States, only AMPEX seems to currently have the 1 oz Libertad in stock, for under $23 BU, and for small lots there is an additional tax levied by California. But 'a bird in the hand', wot... (In case anybody hasn't seen one, the 50-peso 1.2 toz pure gold content coin is a beautiful beast, larded with alloy...)
  3. Will be visiting Lakeside soon, and would like to pick up some 1 oz silver Libertad coins as gifts for neighbors' kids. (Illustrated: https://www.jmbullion.com/mexican-silver-libertad/) Sometime in the distant past, think I read that one or more of the big banks (supposedly) had them to sell. If so, which one(s)? Also, few years ago I was rambling around what I think was the eastern end of centro Guadalajara and passed by what seemed to be maybe a block of small coin/precious metal exchanges with their characteristic safety glass windows. Anyone know the name of the street, and/or have any warnings to offer? Thanks.
  4. After performing some lightweight due diligence online, I posted to this board in November, 2017 "Comments posted to the ilox FaceBook page are 'mixed': (LINK NO LONGER LIVE) See https://es-la.facebook.com/pg/iloxmx/reviews/?ref=page_internal One recurring remark: "Worse than MegaCable."
  5. Thanks for assurances re local stonework. I'll never forget my first trip to SMA in the early 80's when I was walking in a a high-end neighborhood and came across a craftsman installing a lintel for a beautiful portal and while chatting learned that it cost about USD$200 (then). IMhO, this typical art form can represent Mexican design at its' best, and if respected could last centuries. Well worth some extra (doomed) dollars, so long as one is careful and patient in contracting... Thanks again.
  6. May I ask, when discussing stonework Lakeside, with good quality control, can it match the (apparent) quality of this stonework from SMA ? (I know where some good portal sculptors work on Obraje in SMA). Thanks.
  7. It would be interesting to know if any prospective Ilox customer who visits their office is ever told that they are out of the Ilox service area. And are new subscribers applying now still required to pay a year in advance?
  8. tug, please report back with any findings derived beyond this thread - so often, as you anticipate, postings generate a churning cloud of dust and no useful information. (I'm interested in a property in the wild west end of SJC and decent net is a necessity.) Thanks and good luck.
  9. Just out of curiosity, based on reasonably recent experience, how much does a minimal vehicle rental run per week Lakeside, all in? Very rough calculation seems to indicate that due mainly to insurance requirements and rates, an airport rental might cost US$50/day. Seems high... Thanks!
  10. OP aka Shorty probably has a Nexus 7 (w or w/o LTE), as I do. Perfect size. Fine instrument, but getting old. Here is a website demonstrating the replacement of the battery. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzknIzaAijQ Used to design and built my own computers, so I looked forward to working on my N7, but came across a brand new but year old model of Amazon Fire HD 8" tablet I could stuff to a total of 90 Gb, all for $60 (as I recall). Bit bigger than the N7, probably faster, not as handy, but easier to read. Crummy camera.
  11. A couple of years ago I bought a lot in San Juan Cosala, and the next January (2018) I was visiting Lakeside, so I could conveniently pay my property tax in person using original documents. This year, I wasn't able to make it down to Lakeside and haven't yet paid 2019 taxes. The amount of tax is de minimus and is not the issue. But are there any problems involved in deferring the payment date this long or longer, even into Spring, 2020? And are good scanned copies of the simple paperwork from last year acceptable for the payment process at the Municipality office, in case I can find someone local to perform that errand? (The staff of Joco Municipality were delightful, and I was the only customer.) Thanks. (In case anyone's interested, the Joco website is: http://jocotepec.gob.mx/ - they don't appear to support online payments.)
  12. 1 United States Dollar equals 20.11 Mexican Peso Aug 28, 9:00 PM UTC Aug 28 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies weakened against a firm dollar on Wednesday as investors shied away from riskier bets amid global growth worries, while strong demand for oil helped equities in the region rise. Adding to a bout of data signaling global slowdown, Mexico's central bank, Banxico, reduced its projected growth for Latin America's second-largest economy for the fifth time in a row for 2019 and expects a smaller expansion in 2020. Banxico also cut its inflation forecast for the end of 2019 to 3.2% from 3.7% on the back of growth risks arising from global trade disputes and struggling state oil firm Pemex, whose ratings downgrade poses a big threat to the sovereign debt. The Mexican peso MXN= shed 0.4%.
  13. "You're gonna need a bigger pot". (Luxembourgh Garden, Paris - 6 mt Phoenix Caneriensis, moved indoors during winter.)
  14. The topic is "Thoughtless trades people". For a very general idea about using, for example, a simple phone message template or app to provide a specialized, convenient and timely source of actionable information, particularly for those familiar with such technology but not its' most efficient use, see: https://captology.stanford.edu/about/what-is-captology.html
  15. I pity the school where a basic XML document is more than a class project...the basic technical functions involved are built into the software and only require thoughtful analysis and multilingual 'labeling'. The magic is in the top level design that provides obvious utility and invites adoption. A study of the adoption, use, impact, etc. of such a tool might merit a serious study - a friend got a PhD in something like the anthropology of education from Stanford for an impact study in Micronesia over several years. <racism?> In the 80's, Jean Lave at Berkeley came up with the idea of "cognitive apprenticeships" ...</racism?>...
  16. It would be wonderful if such a practical and humane (and thereby intelligent) approach could be codified as a sort of form (on paper but better if accessible and interactive online also) providing in a casual and friendly way all the relevant information and basic interface tools, relevant to the tasks at hand, updated as conveniently as possible.
  17. A more constructive response might be to contact someone in authority for deciding the footprint of the Ilox network and get, first, an estimate and then their clear intention to deploy if some subscription formula is satisfied or perhaps a special fee offered to compensate Ilox for the extra distance to Fort Apache. Then canvass around your enclave and perhaps beyond to meet that quota with 'prepayments' for confirmed prompt installation. And widely share your findings; there may be dozens of such edge cases, and an extra 300 mt of fiber doesn't cost that much to install to reach more remote users. See:https://www.indeed.com.mx/cmp/Ilox-Telecomunicaciones/salaries "So the number of prepaids really should not be the determining factor." Except that it seems to be.
  18. "We are expected to believe that Telmex put fiber optics in a farmer's field, when they can't even get it right in a city or town?" We've had a fiber connector on our ranch fence for twenty years now, and AFAIK it is still 'dark', and similar above-ground sections of it were almost certainly destroyed by grass fires in one or more of the conflagrations around Napa and Mendocino. Until the dot com bust in 2000, northern California had speculative fiber installations in all sorts of remote locations, on the way to somewhere. The idea of 'blaming' farmers for normal operations (unless contractually obliged otherwise) is classic.
  19. I know nada about the social services or other insurance schemes serving the broad Mexican population. Do the costs mentioned here for common medical procedures apply to the ultimate out-of-pocket prices the average Mexican would have to pay (whose per capita GDP is around US$10k per year, while US per capita GDP is US$65k...)? Thanks.
  20. Of course, especially if discreetly parking in a reasonably sized RV later in the evening in an appropriately quiet area near the 'engagement', napping till morning could be straightforward. The price of fuel from RA could make such an evening out uneconomic, however.
  21. A few years ago when a family charitable trust centered in Silicon Valley was looking for worthy projects to fund, I suggested an interactive and immersive software/DVD/Web based curriculum preparing particularly Spanish speaking students for work in English oriented but general gerontology and hospice. If it was my field and I spoke Spanish, I'd definitely look into the possibility...
  22. Yes, "penetration is dependent on frequency". I'm trying very, very casually to scare up plans for new brick construction, for an integrated whole-house system of deep-set conduit terminating in a master panel of some sort. Hoping to avoid WiFi or other kluges. All preliminary to even starting architects/engineers' plans. Certainly in India, there must be some version of such blueprints available. (It's remarkable how much construction worldwide is just like Mexico, reinforced concrete post-and-beam.) Thanks all. (I'm also the :() who suggested a formal 'consumers' union' for Ilox users so as to promote accurate and useful communication with the company, I think it was ComputerGuy who laughed at me, and I'm sure he was right. What can you do - donate CRM software? But we each have to engineer our own satisfaction...)
  23. Torturing poor old WiFi is no fun - even whipping it with loose cables. Has anyone ever come across designs and diagrams for installing whole-house Ethernet/coax/fiber cable networks safely penetrating NEW Mexican-style thick-as-a-brick construction? Other than just chiseling surface channels and then plastering it over? A lot of new designs for the US feature (apparently non-proprietary, e.g. not Alexa) voice interfaces that can direct 'console control' to any room dynamically...Thanks.
  24. Apparently, there was/is a commercial circuit linking second-hand (Goodwill) stores in central California (where maybe a third of the population is 0th or 1st generation out of Mexico) back south of the border. Particularly women will buy bales of good quality used clothing (presumably as much as they can get across the border) at what really are very low prices. How they market their plunder, who knows - package it in Tupperware?
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