In Reply to: yes, you are right about that, but will dr bob ever read this ? posted by mitch on March 11, 2002 at 12:18 AM:
......though all Hank needed to say was, "Look dumb****, they're right, you're wrong."
It IS his site - and he's the ultimate arbiter. I will abide, and have sent him a private note of apology for the trouble I caused.
I had thought there was precious little difference between (a) logging a bill in "in the field" and then carrying it for two or three days before spending it back at home, and (b) taking it home, logging it in where I HAD been, and then waiting two days or more before spending it. Have been for 25 years tracking movements of organisms over time spans of years to millions of years, but obviously the specific time factor is much more important to y'all than I'd given it credence. To me, two days one way or the other is trivial, especially when most bills (at least in MY limited experience with <200 hits) take at least a couple weeks to get re-entered, and commonly a month or more. (And the first bills I entered last November have STILL not been hit.) And I AM very used to dealing with much longer time series.
Only once did one of my bills get "red-flagged", and then it was for a totally unrelated reason: I was new and didn't know yet how to delete a bill, and so I'd changed the entry to a nonexistent zip code, expecting (& hoping) to get an error message that would include some instructions. Instead, it got me a 5000-mile distance in less than 24 hours. I personally asked Hank to delete the bill, which he graciously did.
However, HANK has spoken, and as I assured him, I will abide. This is his show, and his rules. But now, I'll have to try to resurrect an antique laptop so I CAN enter bills on the road - since I DO a great deal of traveling and will, in the coming year, be in a number of states where I have no hits whatever, and from which I'd like to be able to bring bills back to Maine to turn loose without a Maine initial entry.
Thank you all for your guidance, even though I tried to politely ignore you all. I sit corrected, chastised, and on a sore behind.