Chord Buddy retails for $50 at WalMart. Would I use one on stage if I could capo it? In a flash. Another instrument I might hesitate because it is “cheating”, but not guitar. Most (not all) local players are so insufferable, I’d let a trained monkey on stage with this contraption. The sign on my door says “No HOTEL CALIFORNIA”. And don’t even think of playing “Freebird” within pistol range.You know how I dislike bad design, and today I had to replace something that technically should never wear out. A bicycle kickstand. The old one, an apparently sturdy model, would slowly tilt until the front wheel spun sideways and the bike fell over. Design by MicroSoft. Not that the kickstand does this, but that they still make ones that even can.
Speaking of Microsoft, they have made my life infinitely harder since my shoulder injury. Windows gets the keyboard and mouse so plugged up with gimp features that every accidental bump or keystroke issues some inane command that has to be undone. Worse, these are gimp features so they cannot be disabled. Particularly stinky are the e-mail “shortcuts”, since merely brushing your hand against the mouse can wipe out your entire letter. Microsoft sucks the big green one. (Yes, I am aware MicroSoft did not personally program my e-mail, but they designed a system that permits others to do so.)
Heads up. When I suggest certain applications to protect your on-line activities, they are nothing more than programs I have found useful. There is no software that will protect your computer against all the bad guys. Has any bad guy ever asked for permission to spy on you? Over time, applications like SpyBot gradually get defeated by the malicious profiling industry, and I cease to recommend them, however useful they probably still are. (SpyBot now takes hours to scan.)
Still, you should be aware of who is spying on you and here is a free version of SuperAntiSpyWare you should run at least once on your computer to see who is getting past Ghostery these days. Do a custom install, so you can watch out for sneak Google shadow installs. Google I now call “SlimeGoogle” for what they do to your computer and your privacy. When installing SuperAntiSpyWare, SlimeGoogle tries to slip Chrome in as your default browser at least four times. You done been told.
Having said that, I like SuperAntiSpyWare because it is auto-updating and displays exactly what it is doing as it goes along. You’ll find adware once again to be one of the most insistent lurkers in your computer. It turns out they often do this without the web page's knowledge. Nor do I have anything good to say about Adobe Flash Player. One point, adware is not a single organization, but the term for anyone who places snooping software on your computer without your knowledge. Is your personal usage data valuable? Collectively, these Spyware companies have paid millions in fines and court fees rather than stop. What does that tell you?
The late afternoon sprinkle sent me indoors to the library. It is true, they have gotten rid of the encyclopedias. I was told they were moved to the teen section but a complete exploration of the shelves there shows only the children’s versions were moved. The former research section (where the encyclopedias used to be) has been replaced by 275 books confined to the single topic of Afro-American heritage and contribution to America. Including two thirty-six volume sets listing famous blacks. There are probably a million names in there.
Trivia. You have to maintain a pulse rate for twenty minutes before the exercise will improve your stamina. That rate varies with age. I found the formula. You subtract your age from 220. Take that number and calculate 65% of it. The answer is the pulse rate you have to meet or exceed. Did you know that at the end of WWII, there were only 400 airplanes left flying in Japan. Have you seen the man in the projector booth change movie reels? Not if it was the IMAX. The film spools weigh 573 pounds each.
