March 17, 2007

           A natural writer like me is just bound to be a wellspring of information. (That's a joke, Sparky.) Like just today, I’ve learned to improve the quality of the rice I make by the simple expedient of reading the package. How’s that for useful?

           I spent the day in the shop, setting up the new flat screen monitor. Other than size, they don’t really represent an improvement for me and the truly large models are still far too expensive. Then I checked out satellite radio, another item that falls short of what was promised. I plowed through the specs and I just do not see
that it represents a real gain. You are still listening to somebody else’s idea of what you want to hear. You can only specify very wide categories, such as “rock” or “news”. The perpetual problem remains that you may only like one or two minutes of the hourly offerings.

           Also, each of the books made it quite clear that you are only getting a steady diet of the same programming. Not one penny has been spent on improving the quality of content. It is the same old without the commercials. Even that [old system] was self-limiting. I would change stations after over maybe two minutes of any ads for used cars, delayed furniture payments or credit repair. A lot of money has been spent, but things like hiring Howard Stern are of questionable value without beams from outer space.
           The biggest plug seemed to be that you could listen to essentially the same radio station while driving across the United States. I cannot figure out who would want to do that. Then, some people need to be entertained 24 hours a day. Seriously, I know people who sleep with the television on. They all work for the telephone company. When I could pay once [for sat-radio] and have the ability to create my own playlists, or at least a reject button when some bozo puts the Village People in the rock category, call me then.

           None of the material made it clear how the sat-radio people knew you were the one who was listening. It must involve at least some way to identify who is hearing what, and that sets off a completely different set of alarm panels. If so, it just shows you the majority of people still have not learned certain lessons about privacy even after the Internet experience.
           From there, I rode downtown and stopped to hear some of the street musicians. These are not the same as out west, instead, local businesses hire them to play in the street in the hopes of getting some extra walk-ins. The going rate seems to be $50 per hour, which seems right. I called the G to let him know that he is still invited to the party if he will play different music.
           Tempting as it was to take it easy, I went home early to practice. Some of the new tunes have bass lines right out the 1950s. That is probably because that is when they were hits. What do you think? I listen to Bye Bye Love by Buddy Holly and then Simon and Garfunkel. Virtually no difference except what, ten years? Most tunes on Cowboy Jeff’s list have weak bass lines – but this is not unusual, no sirree. Quick, hum the bass line out of Lodi. See what I mean? Yet that is the riff I’m using for Bye Bye Love, only backwards, kind of, and timed differently.

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