Re: Big money in the electrostatics biz

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Wed, 31 Jul 2002, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:

> A REQUEST FOR REMOVING POSTINGS FROM OUR ARCHIVE IS NOT REASONABLE. THE
> PURPOSE OF AN ARCHIVE IS TO KEEP ALL MESSAGES, EVEN THOSE WHICH WERE
> LATER SHOWN TO BE SILLY. IF I WERE MR. THORP I WOULD ASK FOR A PUBLIC
> APOLOGY OR CORRECTION.

To recap:  I originally complained about his $AU22 price for the product,
but unfortunately I had seen a website which put the US/AU exchange rate
at 0.86, converting AU$22 to US$19.  As Mr. Thorp correctly pointed out, I
was wrong, and the actual exchange rate at the time was closer to 0.57,
not US$19 for the Zapno(tm), but US$13 instead.

If I had got the exchange rate right, and if I knew that his product sold
for around $13 rather than $19 USD, would I still have sent my original
message?  Certainly.  This didn't impact the list of reasons that I posted
earlier.

Mr. Thorp has since removed a constant shipping fee which all buyers were
having to pay, reducing his price from (approx) $13 to $7 in US dollars.
That, and his adding info about the "car keys trick" gives me far less
about which to complain, but this cannot alter the original events.

In my first message I said that the wall-mount version of Zapno(tm) is a
great idea if the price is right.  I still think so.

PS, why have I complained about Zapno(tm)?  I think I've explained this in
great detail.  What Mr. Thorp was doing was wrong.  From private comments
it is clear that he doesn't belive me and thinks I have all sorts of dark
ulterior motives or perhaps mental problems.  I can't control the labels
he wishes to apply to me, but fortunately my reputation speaks for itself.
No, I have nothing to hide, and if he wants to know my true motivations he
only has to read my messages.


PS
All of us should beware of the following problem, and should carefully
avoid it by maintaining excruciatingly high levels of honesty even when
there is little chance of getting caught:

   "It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know
    that you would lie if you were in his place." - H. L. Mencken



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William J. Beaty                            SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
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