TapperMike

What a great thread. Regarding kids and chromebooks. Traditional educational books are expensive. School districts don't have endless streams of money and quite frankly the educational system is a shambles mostly due to too much emphasis placed on bad testing.

Regarding Blonde.... Did you hear that from The Ramones? I've seen quite a few Blondie doco's as well as General History of Rock and Roll. As well I knew a roadie who worked for the Ramones. They were drug dealers first, performers second. If not for Phil Spector literally putting a gun to their heads they would have never done anything worthy of airplay. As for Blonde....Well I have a different story on that one.

It's funny that this subject is brought up today of all days. Earlier tonite while on break one of my co-workers lit up a pipe and passed it around. Because we had talked about using drugs before she assumed I wanted to get high with her. I stopped doing drugs a long time back. I know people who are in their 60's and even 70's who are occasional users of this that and the other thing. They somehow figured out how to still get high and survive. I'm not one of them. I think if I smoked marijuana today: I'd have to be in Colorado where it's legal. I'd have to be able to clear my agenda with not having to do anything or be anywhere that day or the next. I'd have to be in a scenic rural area. A funny thing about me and getting high alone (granted the last time I did was '81 I want to play my guitar but my hands go dumb. I want to play the radio but for some reason every song I listen to sucks at that time. I've got the munchies but nothing looks good to me. A friend of mine used to coax me into getting high and playing guitar while high. It would take some time before I could come down enough to play. He and others would comment how awesome I was. I'd never remember how good or even what songs I'd played while high. I think it was the drugs talking to him and others around me. Regarding Cocaine. I loved coke. I'd blow 600 a week on premium coke. I loved it more then my job, more then my guitars and more then my girlfriend. I loved it straight up to the day my best friend got arrested and did 10 years for possession. Then after I had no job, no guitars, no girlfriend and no best friend I put coke behind me for a few years. I tried it again and I was not liking the buzz at all. I felt no euphoria, my heart was racing a mile a minute. (prolly heavily stepped on) A girl who was part of our little inner circle had a heart attack and nearly dired. Regarding hallucinogens. Yes I did LSD, purple microdot blatter oils and the like. They were quite trippy I had mostly good "out of body" experiences. Along with two really bad experiences which cased me to stop. I had flashbacks as well as co-existing problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_persisting_perception_disorder The flashbacks lasted for over ten years. The brain snaps were intense when I stopped doing drugs and lt was impossible to get any sleep. I suffered from then even longer but the regularity lessened over time. Sure I did some pretty creative stuff on hallucinogens but I wouldn't call it my better work. Getting straight was a bitch for me. I have a compulsive-addictive personality. The only thing I couldn't kick was smoking. And the only thing that pulled me through was playing guitar. Guitar was my escape from drug addiction. Everyday I'd pour myself into the guitar (wish I had the dedication I had back then) trying fend off the physical and psychological withdrawal. I thought I had gone permanently insane. Every day I was hanging on by a thread. Slowly after a long long time I finally started coming out of the fog.

Trust me I'm tempted to reply. However there are plenty of places I can go for political discussions.

http://whyideletedyourpromoemail.tumblr.com/?og=1 I'm in there twice but I won't say which two.

Thanks, Most of it I've already tried. Haven't gone through the entire thing yet. I'm getting 2.5 ms on the Vista running Cantile as a host. Even though it reads 5.8 on the windows machine it's actually much much higher.

Mostly I'm concerned with midi latency and not audio. The Linnstrument has been a godsend to me. Every time I touch it I'm spellbound. The responsiveness of the unit even before one gets into the "other five" touch responses the velocity response is captivating. I seriously have to turn off X,Y and after pressure just to get through my basic scale/arpeggio practice regiment because I'm too swept away to concentrate.

@Tom While spanish is not my forte' either. For a time back in the 80's I worked at a Brown Derby Restaurant. I was the only American English only speaking cook. The rest were all spanish speaking from various latin american nations. I never let on that I spoke a word of Spanish. They liked me about as much as any other line cook and would generally talk about me positively amongst themselves. It was a very busy place and as far as they were concerned as long as I could keep up I was fine. I think they assumed that I spoke spanish even though I told them I didn't.

That has been my experience with Canadian Television. Not only drama but news programs as well. As far as "K-beck" Last time I was there was expo '67 I was 6 and went to the worlds fair., Mostly Ontario,and Manitoba. I've had quite a few dealings with French speaking Canadians, Yes, very rude, also easily aggravated when not replying to them in French. And then becoming more hostile with my limited french speaking skills. In those situation I was providing assistance to them. And It got to the point where I'd refuse assistance. Not that French Canadiens or even French have a monopoly on rudeness.

I've seen those bad tv drama's with terrible fake science geek speak They jump the shark quite often.. I had to stop watching TV due to the liberties they often would take with the facts for the sake of the story. There are plenty of international banks that are situated in countries (Like Switzerland or The Bahamas) where by the money goes into an account and then promptly disappears. It's actually faster / easier than setting up a bitcoin wallet making the money transfer and the US Government or Interpol has no jurisdiction. . It's funny, Some of us have been on this internet thing since it's inception, Some of us go back to BBS. Back in the early years of the internet it was always portrayed as evil on television and in movies. One would think after awhile that the reason why tv writers were making out the internet as a bad thing as it was drawing viewers away from watching TV. Going back further to when cable first arrived the same clap trap was applied to Cable TV by traditional broadcasters. And even before that as I live near the border Canadian Television would blame every ail known to mankind on American TV.. I love Canada, (for the most part) I love the system of government (for the most part). I've been across the border many many times. I think the people are indeed kinder and gentler then their American counterparts. Canada is not without it's problems and the problems it has are solely Canadian. Though they love passing the buck on to America.

I happen to have a Yamaha AW16G I like the zoom ones but not the tacky drum machines on them. For the big bucks I'd go for a line 6 m20d

Amazingly well written response John.

I always wonder if he's pulling a con. If there is one thing I like about Bowie is that he isn't trapped by idiom / style. There is an element which often comes with success that one has to repeat using the same methods to gain success. Well, the public may bore of that or the artist may bore of that. But often I think that he's clutching at straws trying to catch the next big thing. The fascination with Dennis the Menace americana archetype, Successful white collar materialism is something I would not expect from a punk folk rocker which epitomizes his foray into the music world. Which to be honest you'll find in many a musician / singer / songwriter. Everyone buys in (rather then selling out) to a certain degree in order to get that first record on the label. Many hated their earlier works which were just to appease the label. (Tom Petty, John Cougar on and on) While still more acknowledge that it's all part of the industry and were more then happy with the results of which they couldn't have the career they enjoyed. As for his lineup. While I love parker fly's Reeves Gabriel has always been too far avant garde for my tastes. Same with Adrian Belew for that matter. I should applaud them for pushing the envelope. For all the years of midi guitar very few guitarists are midi guitar evangelists. And many of them are in their 60's or dead.

Boy have we gotten off track. I'm right there with you. A funny thing about marijuana, drugs and alcohol. We've had to let two people go at work last week for alcohol related incidents. One of them (Cook) was so drunk he was bouncing off the walls because he couldn't see straight or walk straight. Didn't help that he had a 12" Cimeter carving knife in his hand. The other one got rather livid with customers and couldn't control her temper (waitress) Honestly, in more than 30 years of cooking never had a dangerous situation arise from marijuana. Obviously there is more at work then the alcohol. These were not "young people" He in his thirties and she in her 50's. As for non violent recreational marijuana. I think if you are doing it on your own time and it's not interfering with your job. It's your business. This I say having a compulsive /addictive personality after going through many years of substance abuse. And having more years clean and sober. Re worldwide transactions. A few months back I went to florida. I came equipped with my paypal card and my bank debit card. My bank card was constantly being rejected. I called the 1-800 number trying to get things sorted. And I went into a local branch trying to get some resolution. I was able to take some money out of my account inside the branch after dealing with the branch manager. But even after everything was allegedly sorted. I still had issues buying gas on my way back home. I had three such dealings trying to get things sorted with the 1-800 and even after I got back I still had to go in and verify that it was indeed me making all of my purchases.

Re Crowd funding. Not that I've had money to invest in anything major. I've been involved with quite a few projects (chain restaurants) that went belly up. Investment is always a risk. From that link Tom offered stating: That's small potatoes compared to business investment. Re Bitcoin: And how were these same illegal financial activities performed before bitcoin? Banks using US dollar as currency exchange. I hate to get political here but. Remember when the US government stated they were going to track the money supply back to the source for 911 and they never did? They didn't even try, This was long long before the advent of bitcoin. So Banks which handled transactions for outrageous fees are no longer able to profit on drug, weapons, insurgencies. I'm sure they still do. Meanwhile the banking industry has gotten worse and worse for consumers. A buddy of mine and I were speaking of banks the other day. He started to mention all the limitations, penalties and charges. I thought I had it bad. The reason why I maintain a regular bank account is... payroll checks, IRS, It's a nuance and a half. It's easy to see how people get sucked into check cashing, quick loans. If I could move money around with bitcoin the same way as I do Paypal I'd be all in. Bill pay, atm, money transfers. All much more secure then traditional banks with none of the hassle.

Bruce Springsteen - Prove it all night

@Mahesh I pay all of my online bills via paypal already. It's more secure and the payment goes through faster than my bank. There is a huge scam that banks do which often leads to monthly shortfalls and overage charges of which I can't get into depth about here.

Thanks Tom. I was writing a long reply and now I've cut it in half Aside from purchases both online and via my paypal debit card. I use paypal to receive income from my job in tech support. As well I use paypal for various other uses. I can see it working for me when dealing with my siblings. We often buy in group for presents. My Dad's birthday or Christmas gift. Or other things that we all invest in. We've been doing this since we were kids. Here's a prime example where it would work for us. We are planning a family reunion in September. One sister will check for accommodation pricings So we can rent a large house for all of us to share rather then a hotel. The rest of us contribute to the cost by sending her the money. The sister who is organizing this lives in Florida most of the year and travels extensively. Other sisters live in other states. As well extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins) May also want to join in. Renting a 10 bedroom chalet is not cheap. Everyone who wants to go can chip in via PayMe to her whether they have a paypal card or not. And because we're all relatives we can use it for no charge transfers. We are expecting a larger then usual turnout this year. All my siblings, all my nieces and nephews. As well as many aunts, uncles and cousins from across the US. With PayMe they can either hitch onto my sisters plan for more rental houses / lodging or they can coordinate their own arrangements.

Anyone using the new PayPal PayMe page? https://www.paypal.me/Chrysler I'm curious to what others think as opposed to the old "buy" or "donate" buttons

Blondie - Call Me!

You need to use the full url rather then the short link. Copy from the address bar at the top of your browser.

Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues

I'll experiment later today. Yamaha has a Steinberg license for ASIO which limits it to 48K and it's a yamaha soundcard (essentially) that I'm using. The internal soundcard is a realtek. Regarding adding effects later in the production cycle. Way back when I was one of the first in Michigan to own a Roland VS 1680 in Michigan. It was a big deal back then. The built in COSM effects and the ability to add them after recording was something that astounded me. Though it was a little strange getting used to. I talked to a friend of mine who owned a local guitar store which didn't carry any damn digital recorders about it. He laughed in my face and told me no serious musician/engineer would do such a thing. This wasn't just any schmoe. He was a highly regarded jazz guitarist who had graced the cover of Jazz Times and had a long list of albums self produced. He kept up on all the latest technologies and for the most part loved everything new. He'd chide me about the feature from time to time as I'd come into the store for strings or to check out guitars. We were good friends. He'd come out to see my shows and I his. A few years later Fostex came out with the same feature on their multi-track recorders and he praised it to no end. Turns out he was really only upset by the fact that he wasn't an authorized Roland dealer. Everything he couldn't sell he didn't want and would express to the customers that said item was crap. It was a small store so... If he had to buy 10 Les Pauls to sell one he'd go on a rant about how he hated Gibson and the inferior quality for price etc.

Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon