Nice article once again. My only issue, and I have said it in the past with prior articles, is that you are fairly random with giving stars to point values. Just looking at the first three you have:

IC146: 111 points = 4's
IC081: 146 points = 6's
IC080: 125 points = 5's

Without explaining how you assign starts to the point value it is a little random looking. If it is meant by how much of your 300 point team each takes up, then the 111 should be the highest rated. If it is meant as some sort of bang-for-the-buck measurement, meaning do you get your points worth on a 300 point team, that is something completely different (and infinately more useful).

Outside of that issue I love these articles.

WHAT! I expect perfection from you! You are not living up to your potential. How dare you miss 4 points!

Actaully, congrats. I was just having a flashback to my school days and dealing with my parents.

I do base it more on a "Bang for your Buck" type of assessment. I don't have a format that I use for assigning the point value ratings. It's more of an arbitrary rating of how much I feel that you are getting out of that particluar power set/stats for the point value towards a 300 point team.

That scam changed over time to the point that it was famous for having a brick in the box. They would have 2-3 "extra" boxes of speakers with one opened to show you. You give them money and they give you a sealed one. Only later do you realize you got duped.

Good piece, and one that definitely resonates with me. What's worse is that many of us go for years before even giving such comeback activities a try, convinced in our heart of hearts that we're just a few power chords and a montage away from being as fit and able as we were at 20. So long as it remains hypothetical we can keep our quiet dignity, but it's just a matter of time before something happens to bring reality home.

Seeing Jeter at the top of the link I had to fork the evil eye at the screen (it's a reflex) but the bulk of the piece below was sufficiently well done to enjoy... at least until he came back around to Jeter.

That's what I figured, but I would make it clearer in the article somehow to avoid people just writing you off as being flaky, or even worse just flaming/trolling your articles.

Right. Or empty speaker cabinets in the box, so a quick opening of the top of the carton shows the wooden shell.

I've seen variations of this reported with laptops, too, though I have to wonder about the people who end up stung to that level. Of course, everything's done on the down-low, and everyday people get to feel like they're part of an underground that's finally getting something for next to nothing for a change. Heh.

The general protection for the scammers in each of these is that there's no receipt and what story are these people going to tell the cops?

Too goofy not to share:

Even goofier:

I'm 34 and I use to run track back in HS. I loved track and field. But after school I started smoking and cut down my running. Yesterday I went jogging/walkiing for the first time in 14 years. My chest didn't hurt but my legs felt like they were getting ready to snap and pop out of socket. Talk about feeling old.

I think I can link my reluctance back to the topic kfrog71 linked to a little earlier. The me who would be walking into a stadium with theme music playing is an idealized me. Really, he's a me who never existed.

While out of touch with personal reality a great deal of the time, I'm still close enough to the ground to find myself shooting down any notions of me striding into a crowd's view accompanied by theme music that even hinted that I was taking this seriously or should be taken seriously.

During my years as a reporter covering the police beat, I was made aware of some pretty incredible schemes to separate the unsuspecting from their money. And I say "incredible" mostly because it was hard to believe they succeeded.

Early on, I'd be told the workings of a particular scam and I'd wonder: how the heck did anyone in their right mind fall for it?

But, of course, the victims hadn't been in their right mind. As folks in law enforcement try to remind the public, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Unfortunately, greed does a good job of causing impaired judgment.

So the lure of being able to get something for next to nothing proves irresistible all too often to far too many --- so right now, there's likely some guy driving home from somewhere with the huge carton that, as he'll learn soon enough, contains plenty of packing peanuts and a brick, but no computer or TV.

I'd buy that for a dollar! Or, $0.55... Seriously, sign me up for an entire set. I also like tpchid's idea of PnP objects, but I understand the need to take one thing at a time.

dkrmguy, what is a "coater"?