Jimbos was a wipeout even though my standard of tips (miminum $1 per person) still upheld. Nobody was in, not even the usual dart team. This still gives me a chance to test out equipment and get ready for bingo. I’m going to try faint music in the background and call through the PA from over at the pool table using a wireless. (I nab this opportunity to point out that despite the tiny tips tonight, I am still getting them 36 times faster than when I was teamed up with you-know-who.)I gave the Red Devil Drum box the old shake-down cruise. Several obvious features are missing, probably because I’ve got the trial version. The user list cannot be edited and the export feature is limited to one measure. The box is still represents such an improvement over the rest that I’ll contact the company “desktopmetronome.com” to see what gives. Something has changed with Eddie, of which I know nothing, but I’ve been in this music business a long, long time. Long enough to know that on the 9th day, God created guitar players.
Somewhat later I report a successful search and once again had to turn to an English company (Delcom Products, Inc., Part number 803620) for solutions. I found a $38 USB footswitch that meets the specs. There were many different types, mostly for gaming and transcribing. Despite this being the computer era, many of them could not be programmed. The American models sell for $200, so much for the theory that the Internet would bring prices down. Oh yes, that was the promise in 1996. Freed from having to pay rent on bricks and mortar storefronts, companies would flood the market with half-price merchandise. Ah, some might say, but they didn’t have shipping and handling expenses. Hey, they still don’t.This footswitch has a removable back panel and contains a pair of DIP (Dual Inline Package) switches. The instructions give you the code settings for all ASCII keyboard. By pure coincidence, the default is the one I need, a spacebar. It seems they have a branch office in Port Chester, NY. Wherever that is.
The entire purpose of this footswitch is to stop and start the drum box without removing my hands from the instrument. I saw quite a number of specialized footswitches to be used for turning pages of on-line sheet music. There were others that had banks of up to three switches. The most unusual was a unit that looked like an unused extension chord laying on the floor under your desk. You tromp on it when the boss walks into your office and it instantly displays a Windows logo.
Here’s some trivia you’d never expect. The armament sales to the gulf oil countries are well-known, but why is it mostly land and air weapons? Great shares of their land and air are not worth fighting for. It is also known that for power projection and an off-shore defense line, a modern navy is required. Except for a few patrol boats and hovercraft, one never hears about Arabian naval forces even though they’ve got the money. The answer is probably because soon after setting foot on board, Arabs tend to get horribly seasick in droves. And it is a violent seasickness that does not pass easily. This is a case of the Arabs not buying sophisticated equipment that they can’t use. Mind you, the electronic “sniffing” devices normally installed on ships are very popular with Middle East cell phone companies.
In a few days, I’m approaching the third anniversary of my conversion to bicycle riding. It is possible that my total mileage of around 4,150 miles has been underestimated. I cannot seem to find a rugged odometer that lasts, so 5,000+ may be more realistic. It seems as if it has been longer than three years but the records show August 23, 2006.
