But then, anything is better than 40 below. Alas, the A/C here is not up to keeping the room cool. The living room unit is new but at best in an hour it can cool the area down to where a few fans make it habitable. The smaller A/C units in the other rooms cannot even do that except at night. I told you it was hot.This meant I was in the shop all morning and early afternoon, studying Linux. I believe, now that China has tacitly decided on Linux, it will soon be the universal Operating System. Unlike code produced by a single company, such as MicroSoft, Linux is a mess, all over the place. Those who use it say that is an advantage, so I’m listening to them. I read up on the architecture and to get familiar with the terms. And it would be an easier task if the people creating the terms didn’t have such limited communications ability.
I experienced a lot of such people in my college days. Students who could produce utterly brilliant pieces of junk just loved computers. They considered themselves the elite but were social failures and in some cases, rejects. What I noticed was their proclivity to think their childish making up of words was the same as original thought. And, to me, they are where you get the Linux word “distro”. It just means a version of the code that is distributed to the people who use it.
Craigslist security features have become very sophisticated compared to three years ago. This time it took me several months to “understand” how they are now doing things. Very clever, those people. But I believe I have a right to know who is censoring my posts, although I do not necessarily think that right extends to the uneducated. Last February, I had one of my posts flagged (censored) because I advertised a bingo game.
Author's note 2015-06-05: Years later it turns out certain religious groups systematically flag bingo ads as "gambling". Craigslist says that is legitimate usage. This was also about the time Craigslist brought in new software posting procedures that made it difficult to trace links backward into their system. They got rich and sophisticated.
Craigslist sent me a stock answer saying some people were against gambling. Isn’t that a fine moralistic answer from people who permit hookers, child molesters and on-line scammers to infest their web site. But you know, I should quit tracing these flaggers because by pure coincidence, right after I do, they experience a stretch of awful bad luck. Maybe I’m jinxed, do ya think?
Speaking of bingo, the Moose crowd showed up tonight and made it a success, meaning jackpots in the three-figure range. I’m still behind on all bills but that bingo income has become a serious contender. Once I get my phone company pension, such extra cash money is going to be pure sweet gravy. Not only does it behave like a fantastic weekly allowance, bingo is a scalable project and has proven seven times as cost-effective as performing music. Uh, let me elaborate that last point. I can put on an incredible bingo show with $200 worth of stage equipment. With music, I need $1400 worth of stage equipment to earn the same in tips.
There’s more. I must operate an automobile to play music, even if it is only just up to Jimbos. With bingo, I can set up some third-hand speakers and scoot across town on my bicycle. My expenses for every bingo night average a piddling $3.60. So while bingo is not quite yet my largest source of income, it is by far the fastest climbing. Once I get a notebook computer, I won’t even have to buy blank CDs. Of course, should I find the right guitar player, things will change yet again.
Jay, the guitarist, has not been in touch. I’ve got Hi’s new number and may reconsider. The bouncy young gal is still just that. I met another guitarist, but his best friend seems to be the worst lady who hangs out at Jimbos. I responded to an ad that wants to start a country band. In all, I’m getting ever closer to laying down my own tracks and going solo. Incidentally, I claim to be the bassist who has fired more guitar players than any other in the nation.
I’ve canned around 50 guitar players in my music career. Oddly, this comes as a surprise to many guitarists, whose egos often cannot grasp that they are the ones who got fired. The most common cause is lack of ability to learn new music. They often take firing to mean I’m saying they cannot play, but that is not accurate. They also tend to that nasty attitude that “bass is easy”. It is easy, if you play it wrongly like they do.
I’m reminded of one episode with the Hippie. I forget what brought it up, but I outright told him I was a better bassist than he was a guitarist. Was he bent out of shape or what! I’d actually meant I was better at reading the crowd, a fact that is now firmly established. He’s a mood-killer. Remember our Tiki gig, when people walked past his tip bucket and shoved money into my shirt pocket? You don’t need better proof than that.
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