RadioShack Idiots

I'm having a really big problem with the radioshack employees. They know little to nothing about electronics. I go in today to buy some connectors/adapters and the gentleman asks me if there is anything he can help me with. I respond with "where can i find TRS adapters?". To which he replies in his "know it all" demeanor "what are you talking about, I've never heard of TRS before. To which I responded "Stereo 1/4in or 1/8in adapters... TRS is the technical term. Radioshack was originally supposed to be a store where you can go in and buy parts to build a radio but the knowledge of their employees leaves me lacking faith that anybody knows what they are talking about anymore. The employee's pretentious attitude came off trying make me feel like i knew nothing about electronics when in fact i knew 50 times more than him. the nerve.

FSC and the Government

I don't know how many smokers there are that will read this... but many people know about the new FSC cigarettes. FSC standing for Fire Safe Cigarette. The fire safe cigarette is actually a law adopted by most states.

People may also know that this is a piece of legislation that was filed 06/09 and passed 01/01/10 in Alabama. So far 99.8 percent of the united states are "protected" from FSC's. All states have adopted this legislation or legislation has been filed via the coalition for fire safe cigarettes. Usually the sponsor for this legislation has been the State Fire Marshal, with the obvious reasons that FSC reduces house fires caused by cigarettes and saved many lives.

The Chemicals used in the fire safe cigarette is called Ethylene-vinyl acetate or EVA which is commonly found in plastics. EVA is used in orthotics, fire safe cigarettes, surfboard and skimboard traction pads, and for the manufacturing of some artificial flowers. It is also used as a clinginess-enhancing additive in plastic wraps, a cold flow improver for diesel fuel and a separater in HEPA filters. EVA can easily cut from sheets and molded to shape. It is also used to make thermoplastic mouthguards that soften in boiling water for a user specific fit.

As a smoker myself i usually grow in frustration when i smoke because of the constant extinguish of the FSC. They are designed to go out within 30 to 35 seconds. As an everyday smoker the time that it usually takes a person between draws may be in excess of a minute. In order to smoke a full cigarette you would need to keep puffing within thirty seconds of each other to maintain a lit cigarette. In essence making a person smoke twice as fast increasing the addiction due to the rapid ingestion of nicotine. In theory people would be buying more cigarettes due to addiction and rate of smoking increased. The tobacco companies must be making a fortune buy implementing the fire safe cigarette. I guess they had to do something to maintain and supplement their capital from loss of sales due to the HUGE anti-smoking campaign that has been launched.

Has this been an agreement between the tobacco corporations and state governments? I intend to investigate this further.