July 15, 2017

Yesteryear
One year ago today: July 15, 2016, a frenzied stampede.
Five years ago today: July 15, 2012, it’s a Havanese.
Nine years ago today: July 15, 2008, remember Blaster/Sasser?
Random years ago today: July 15, 2006, defies description.

           That delay in Miami is proving costly indeed. The summer weather moved in while I was away, restricting work to the early morning and late evening. The heat is sweltering unless you are directly in the blast of the A/C. All told, anything is better than living where there are blizzards. I chuckle when people tell me they like the cold winters because the summers get hot on the prairies too, so you don’t escape the heat there either. When I get the insulation finished on this place, let the global warming begin.

           How disorganized can some folks be? I was doing research this morning and the guy sitting next to me had a staff member helping him look for a document on this cell phone. They brought the account up on the computer and he spent his full three hour allotment scrolling down page after page, probably every e-mail he ever received in his life. I know that the e-mail can hold tens of thousands of messages. I’d just never seen anybody stupid enough to actually do it before. I thought old Lance was bad.

           Worse, only about 1% of the people who sent him anything understood the concept of the subject line. His were identical—all blank. Nor did he understand the notion of a keyword. The one thing he was certain of is that the document was there and he needed it. No way could I help the guy, and when he asked the staff for more help, they informed him his father’s late fees were “in excess of $40” and if he could take care of that first, they might be able to help. That guy would do well in Miami. Let me check something. I’m back. My e-mail has 7 messages, all items I have not answered yet.
           Here’s an item. If you look closely at this gear running on one of the most modern aircraft carriers in the world, you will see Windows XP is still kept by top users - just like this blog said it would be. The last MicroSoft product that does not deliberately contain corporate spyware was XP. Caution, if you are still using XP, use it standalone, not on the Internet. Don’t even connect a computer with XP to any type of Internet device. You do not want any MicroSoft updates concerning XP.

Picture of the day.
Downtown Macon, GA
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           That was also a nine day stretch without practicing my music. That hurt because I’m working on my full gig set. This is more intense that regular rehearsal, and the more so because this solo act is kind of like my self-guaranteed old age pension supplement. I dropped by Agt. R and he’s been working on it, asking the right questions, and mentioning how difficult it is to change chords on tempo. That’s a sure sign he is applying the lessons. Did I mention I can’t find my tuner? My ancient but reliable digital tuner, my second most valuable tool. Behind the computer, I mean. You women all think alike.
           My thoughts are on the bedroom air conditioner. It could not handle the overnight runs and finally went ka-poop. Feeling kind of broke from the trip to Miami, I have to hit the bank for enough to replace it. Which I did, but now I’m too exhausted to even go buy it. The room is 12x12x8, so that is 1,152 cubic feet, or 42.6 cubic yards. I’ll find the best unit I can at Wal*Mart, no sense going nuts here. That’s the one room of the house I expect to keep cool all the time I’m not on holidays. Got that JZ? I’m going to run the air conditioner even when I’m not at home. No, that’s not wasting electricity, because when I walk in there is a place in the house that’s already cool. It’s called luxury. Bwaaaaa-ha-ha-ha.

Quote of the Day:
“Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.”
~ H. L. Mencken
           One neat thing about music is you can play it even when you lack the gumption to do anything else. I’m only about a sixth done incorporating the new material and often my biggest challenge is memorizing the starting note. I know of no other way to do this, yet I’ve never seen the technique listed in any singing lesson book. What I’m doing is timing the songs the way I play them, so I know overall the total minutes of music that go into each of the four sets. I have an easier time mapping things out that way in my head than following a song list. Most bands with a list don’t really follow it much after the first set, plus I like to angle my themes in groups of three depending on the audience. Around a quarter of my songs are weaker numbers, it’s something you never really get away from since that’s a judgment call.

           A bit of luck, I found a tiny file of tunes I had arranged to play with an obscure keyboardist back in 2003, including all the notations and recordings. That’s three more tunes, but they are not the original versions. That contradicts one of my own rules. However, they are extremely easy to play once you catch on. Imagine, me playing Kristofferson. And Bobby Darin. May I say across the ages, however, that songs back then had, from my limited perspective on the instrument, much better guitar riffs than most of today. Chorded arpeggios are just not favorite guitar sound and don’t try to improve them with jazz substitutions. Please don’t.

ADDENDUM

           Trivia time. Do you prefer Puma or Adidas running shoes? They used to be the same company until the two brothers had a tissy fit during World War II. Um, during that war, they produced the weapon known as Panzerschrek, a type of hand-held anti-tank weapon. The hollow point charge worked best at close range after a daring dash into range or a terrifying rollover by a tank. The explosion was enough to completely obliterate any Soviet tank, including the latest IS-2. The firer often stayed deaf for 72 hours afterward, meaning he was unable to hear his commendation while receiving the Iron Cross, second class.
           It is also not true that Hitler or any of the German command snubbed Jesse Owens. That is total propaganda. They did not hob-knob with any of the athletes. Owens was presented with a pair of spiked running shoes by the Puma/Adidas brothers just before he won his gold medals.



           [Author’s note: on April Fool’s Day (yes, Ken, it is a possessive with an apostrophe) this year, Adidas bought out Puma for $3.6 billion. The two companies started in their mother’s laundry room in the 1920s. The riff apparently came over a misunderstanding. After an Allied attack, one brother walked his family from his bomb shelter to the other's bomb shelter. When he entered, the other brother, referring to the Allied terror bombers, said “The dirty bastards are back again.”
           Oops! So the riff lasted 70 years.]

           [Author’s note: the Panzerschrek was a copy of the American bazooka, but designed to work against Soviet tanks, the heaviest in the world. The warhead could penetrate 180mm of steel and could blow the turret off the heaviest Soviet machines. The Germans on the eastern front sited the weapons 150 feet apart and shot at the sides where the armor was thinnest.
           However, when they turned this weapon on the tinker-toy American tanks, the effect was devastating. The Germans rarely bothered with preparing defenses, they simply pointed it at the Sherman, squeezed the trigger, and the tank basically evaporated. This effect has never been reported by any western media.]


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