Larry R

I'm cleaning out my grandmothers jewelry and i'm finding a LOT of pieces from Avon and Monet. None have any content markings, but I do know both companies often used sterling and/or gold. Is there an easy, non-destructive way to tell if any is precious metal vs. Cheap scrap?

I was out walking around a lake on the property where I work and noticed a single set of footprints I can't seem to identify.

The prints are about 2" shorter than my size 10.5 shoe, about half as wide as they are long, and have 4 parallel claw marks. The reason I'm having trouble is the claw marks since they aren't offset from one another but in a pretty straight line across. Also, there are only prints from a single animal and no apparent difference between front and rear prints except one was slightly smaller. Since it was just one set I more or less ruled out pack animals (coyote, etc.). And they don't resemble any dog print I've ever seen due to the length and width of the print.

Any ideas? I live in indiana.

OK, so I had a recent STD screening and got back some sort of undetermined result for syphilis, my Dr. said it was neither positive nor negative, but that that was a fairly common issue with the test. So, he's ordering new tests, but he said as a precaution he was going to start me on antibiotics.

I should add here that I've had no signs or symptoms of the disease, and have never had unprotected sex and no sex at all in at least 3 months.

Since I have a penicillin allergy, he gave me azithromycin, in the form of a 6-pill 250mg Z-pack.

From the info I've read online Azith. has been shown effective in treating syphilis, but the recommended dose is a single 2g dose? That seems high, since that'd be 8 pills at one time, unless it's administered some other way.

Anyway, my question is, would the standard dosing for a z-pack (2 pills the first day followed by 1 pill daily for 4 more days) be effective for treating syphilis, or is he just giving me this for some precautionary reason?

OK, in 2003 my grandparents had prepared a deed, giving me their home and reserving a life estate on it for themselves at the attorney's suggestion.

Last year my grandfather passed, and my grandmother was forced to go into a nursing home. Now, the state medicaid people (Indiana) are telling me that her portion of the ownership at age 87 is still considered 30%, and that that can be viewed as an asset to her for benefit purposes.

Now, the entire point of them doing this in the first place was to protect the home in exactly this circumstance, and they had told the attorney as much. They had intended to will the home to me, but having had other family members face the situation of being forced to liquidate due to a nursing home, they decided to go this way and deed it to me outright beforehand - but as I said the attorney told them they should include the life estate.

The person at the state office told me that we could sell or lease her portion (or advertise it at least) and that would exempt it. My question is, how exactly would that work? Would the lessor, or the buyer then own 30% of my home when she dies?

Also, is this even correct that this is an asset to her? The deed prepared was a warranty deed in 2003, if there's anyone out there experienced with this issue, in Indiana, please feel free to contact me and I can provide you with a scan of the deed if that'd help.

OK, so we've all (or at least those paying attention) have heard that CERN is up and running and on it's initial run produced 7 trillion electron volts ( 7 TeV). Here's my question: I listen to late night radio and a lot of people seem to equate TeV to actual volts, which it is not.

Assuming there is some way to equate the two measurements, how many standard electric volts would 1 TeV equate to? Or another common measure, such as horsepower, etc. so that I can try and explain this to friends and coworkers that CERN type technology isn't our key to "free energy".

I just got my Bronica ETRS delivered today and have been going over the manual for the last several days (since it's a big difference in operation from my Hassy) and am running into a slight possible problem?

In the manual it shows a multiple exposure lever on the right side of the camera (if looking towards the subject), which would be flipped horizontal to do multiples, and left vertical for standard operation.

The issue I'm having is that in the "standard" position, the shutter will not fire, nor any LED's operate. The camera only turns on if I flip the switch down. Is this actually a power switch and not a multi-exposure switch? As I said, I'm new to the Bronica - I picked it up becuse it was cheap, accessories and lenses were cheap (compared to the Hassy) and it allows for electronic options (I wanted a 35mm SLR on steroids basically).

Thanks all. As I said I've looked at the manual on the Tamron site, but it wasn't much help.

OK so I'm 26 and have always been big since like 4 or 5 years old. I've tried everything possible...I've been on medical supervised diets, was on Redux when it was available, have stopped drinking soda, don't use sugar or artificial sweetners, don't eat junk food or fast food, eat a lot of chicken and fish (not fried) and I lose nothing. I hate going to the gym, but I do walk 3-4 miles a day and do a lot of hiking and such when the weather permits. I was even deathly ill and didn't eat at all for 3 months+ and only lost around 15lbs which all came back when I was better.

I'm at a total loss here. All my doctor tells me is gastric bypass - which I'm not willing to do. I'm only 26 and don't want to permanently screw with my body at this point in my life.

Does anyone have any suggestions or personal experience? I've had all of the blood tests and such, so no need to tell me that - all of that is good. I don't have any health issues, and I feel fine - I just hate being big.

I have a 1996 Olds 98, 3.8l V6. It's always ran fine, but on Monday night I drove it, and it was hesitating a little. The next morning when I started it the idle was very rough and the check engine light came on. I shut it off, and it would not turn over again. A few hours later a family friend who's a mechanic went to look at it, and it turned over, but still a very rough idle.

Today, I tried it again, same thing - it'll turn over and idle very rough, but if I turn it off it won't start again.

Any thoughts on what the issue could be? I had just filled up with gas the morning before I had issues, but no issues all day that day. Right now I'm leaning towards a fuel filter needing to be replaced, or possibly some sort of electronics issue. I'll eventually take it in to be looked at, but I'm concerned because once I get it there they may not be able to get it into a bay to check if I turn it off.

Any suggestions appreciated.

This question is purely opinion for the old-timers out there. When I got started in photography 10 or so years ago, nobody my age cared about photography. They were content with disposable cameras, etc. Now, it seems every kid 12+ wants a $1000 DSLR that they have no technical idea of how to use.

Why? Is it just because digital is cheap and "cool", or do you think they have a genuine interest in the subject? If it's the latter, why didn't we have hoards of 12 year olds running around with FM2's 10 years ago? Is this a product of the digital revolution, Myspace, Facebook and Ashton Kutcher?

Do you feel that this fad, and every tween out there wanting to take "really really neat photography pictures" or to "do that one color thing where the rest is B&W" and asking questions as elementary as how to do something as simple as set their exposure, is bad for the genuine professionals and enthusiasts out there? It just seems like every question I see on here is the same 5 questions, rephrased.

Like I said, only opinions here.

OK, I have an 05 Jetta TDI, engine code BEW. I'm needing a definite answer on when the timing belt is RECOMMENDED to be changed. The manual really isn't helpful, since it lists a change at 85,000 and one at 100,000.

Most of my driving is from my hometown to my job, which is 30 miles each way - about 75% of the drive is highway.

I don't need anybody pointing out the dangers of not changing it, I'm well aware of that, I just need to know what is the actual recommendation on changing it, since obviously it doesn't need done twice in 15k miles. Right now I'm planning on somewhere between 90-100k, but want to be sure that's safe.

OK, my color TV (a Zenith made in appx. 1972) is having some issues. It fades between color and black and white. I'm using it on a digital cable box, ran thru a normal cable converter. It's been working fine until the last week or so.

Is this fixable? Sadly it's been the most reliable TV we've owned (We've gone through 6 other TV's while this one is still going strong, and I'm only using this because the 2 year old Sanyo I bought stopped working and is now just a hood ornament on top of the Zenith).

Any suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Does anyone know of a good, free, photoshop plugin to achieve a natural looking soft focus effect? I've used soft focus filters before with great results, but now that I'm trying to do it in photoshop it seems like all the plugins I've tried soften the details waaaaay too much to get the same effect that the actual filters gave me.

For example, in the filters I'm used to a softening of highlights and a slight overall "dreamy" effect. With the plugins I seem to lose all facial details, the eyes become just black balls with no details, and I just don't like the look.

If anyone can help, please do.

Last Friday I was "interviewed" by a major insurance providers regional manager's office for a position as an "agent-in-training" (for lack of a better term) with them. The young lady interviewing me, who I'd gone to high school with (though she didn't remember me, and that fact really has no bearing on my question) said that they'd give me a call back "next week" to speak with a lady who'd discuss the opportunity in more detail with me.

It's now been almost a week, and I'm a bit anxious as I REALLY want this position. How long should I wait before I try to contact them? What should I even ask when I do, since this wasn't a formal interview as such, more just a meet & greet, share some info see if I was still interested type of thing....

If anyone could help it's much appreciated. I've never pursued any type of career like this before, but it's something I, as I said, REALLY want to do.

Also, being as I don't have any guarantee yet, would it be ill-advised to take it upon myself to begin my pre-licensing classes? The fee for the class is $130, so would it be a decent investment if I desire to pursue a career in this field with or without this specific company?

I'm located in Indiana if that matters.

Last Friday I was "interviewed" by a major insurance providers regional manager's office for a position as an "agent-in-training" (for lack of a better term) with them. The young lady interviewing me, who I'd gone to high school with (though she didn't remember me, and that fact really has no bearing on my question) said that they'd give me a call back "next week" to speak with a lady who'd discuss the opportunity in more detail with me.

It's now been almost a week, and I'm a bit anxious as I REALLY want this position. How long should I wait before I try to contact them? What should I even ask when I do, since this wasn't a formal interview as such, more just a meet & greet, share some info see if I was still interested type of thing....

If anyone could help it's much appreciated. I've never pursued any type of career like this before, but it's something I, as I said, REALLY want to do.

Also, being as I don't have any guarantee yet, would it be ill-advised to take it upon myself to begin my pre-licensing classes? The fee for the class is $130, so would it be a decent investment if I desire to pursue a career in this field with or without this specific company?

I'm located in Indiana if that matters.