When will we ever learn?

The Israeli attacks on Lebanon are high profile....
as are the Hezbollah retaliations......

Death, destruction, mayhem, misery, yet still just a fraction of what occurs daily in Iraq,
infinitesmal to what will occur when the U.S. attacks Iran.

Between the two U.S. wars against Iraq this sort of bombing and slaughter was almost a daily occurence, which never got reported.

And Howard's government has learnt its lessons well from its American masters, when we orchestrated events in East Timor to suit our needs and got rid of the democratically elected Prime Minister, with our "peacekeepers" reporting almost immediately to rebel army factions whom we trained and encouraged.
We got away with that one with miniscule bad press, the truth well and truly suppressed!

All over the world, daily, innocents suffer, poor and powerless, as others get comfortable at their expense, either in blissful ignorance or with callous disregard.

No one seems to care, tho the very heavens should cry out for justice.
But not for vengeance - for vengeance by it's very nature is usually taken too far......


WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN?

Windows XP Genuine Advantage nags.

One doesn't get to be obscenely rich without being incredibly small minded.
Bill Gates' Microsoft Windows XP has always been buggy and overpriced.

You can't get them for selling you crap, because they don't sell you Windows, they own it, they just sell you the rights to use it.
So they feel justified in adding their own official spyware and addware through an automatic update: the genuine adavantage nag screen. Even though they snoop your computer without your knowledge.
Then they ask you to pay the full and excessive purchase price for the licence of a system that is on the verge of being superceded: I'm sure this licence fee won't carry over to their new bug-filled system which will require a full priced licence and not just a nominal update fee.

Typical American capitalist greed and paranoia: one day I'll explain just how the record labels that whinge about music piracy rip off your favourite musicians at little risk to themselves to put their product that they so viciously defend on the market.


Here is a webpage with different methods to get rid of the genuine advantage nags.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/04/26/disable-and-remove-windows-genuine-advantage-notifications-nag-screen/

I am proud to say that I use Mandriva Linux: if you are a member of Melbourne PC User Group you can get it legit and above board on DVD for $5.00

Mega PT60R This is a great little amp!

This amp has enough volume so that I can hear myself above Tim, who is a loud drummer and the band who obviously are also loud.

It has a valve pramp using what is now an industry standard 12AX7.
The sound of this amp is GREAT!
It cuts like a knife with my Gibson guitars, and is great for pick harmonics and for feedback.

The clean channel can sound very clean, but has Gain as well as volume, bass and treble controls.
Using gain on this channel warms up the sound more to a clean overdrive than a distortion: so real chords can be played as opposed to power chords with the sound still being clear and defined.
The second channel has a middle knob added, and has more the guitar solo type overdrive.

This amp isn't for you if your sound comes from effects rather than the amp. The only effect built in is good old-fashioned spring reverb.
It is a good, quiet amp when idling, ie a low hum level.

It isn't a pretty amp: the blue panel on the front makes it look rather garish, but the construction is SOLID. It has a metal grill speaker cover, the box is covered in carpet, and the knobs are solid aluminium.

It has a CD input and a headphone jack, a footswitch socket for channel selection, and effects loop sockets.

Melbourne Music Centre in North Road Ormond (who also trade on EBay as Melmusic) sell this (along with other Mega models) at $399.00 AU., altho I bought the demo from the shop floor for $299.

Mega claim to make OEM amplifiers for leading manufacturers and a reviewer on Harmony Central claims that Mega's Acoustic amplifier AC60R is the exact same amplifier as Marshall's AS50R. and gives it a 10/10 rating.

A terrific buy! I'm still waiting to see what the catch is!

Only the good die young...... Goodbye Dave

A lot can happen in a couple of days, highs, and lows.
My post on the 29th June 2006 mentioned our at the time upcoming recording session at SAE studios on July 1st 2006.
Back in the very distant past I had written a song titled Wrigglin' 'n' Writhin'.
About 30 years ago, I took the song into Walter Sound Studios along with a young guitar player with whom I had the pleasure of working, Dave Middleton, who had a really nice 'burst Les Paul.
I had first met Dave a few years earlier when he was 15, and we played together shortly after.

(He's the handsome young fella standing on the right in the photo above.)

In later years Dave played in my last working band before my recent reincarnation as a player. In the years after he became increasingly interested in bluegrass music and acoustic guitar, banjo, and mandolin.

Dave has been a life long friend ever since we met. I was honoured to be a guest when he married Kellee, and was always made to feel welcome when I dropped in on them unannounced, and of course I always welcomed the times he visited or contacted me.

On Saturday, we used the same song, at the insistence of my current band, who consider it a great song. (Thanks., fellas, sincerely appreciated.)
We had just finished Saturday's session, and turned the mobile phones back on, when Jenny my partner answered my phone. I spoke to Kellee, Dave's wife, who was on the line with some terrible news.
In a twist of irony, Dave, with whom I'd recorded the same song earlier, had died at four a.m. that morning from what at this stage is presumed to be a heart attack.
I spoke to Dave's brother, Mark, this morning, who explained that their bluegrass band had a good rehearsal Friday night, and Dave has been organising a folk club near where he lived in Strathbogie with a view to organising a festival. He was looking forward to a pending course on Events Management, was very excited and happy, and appeared as fit as a scrub bull.
I haven't heard playbacks of the vocal or lead guitar trax as we were pushed for time: the song still needs to be mixed, and Jed is adding a rythmn part on the 14th of July. However, the performances felt good and I expect good results.
The band, when I told them of the bad news in the phone call, said we we would dedicate our recording of the song to Dave.

Thanks, Zig, Tim and Jed, my appreciation is heartfelt.

This tragedy has left Kellee a widow, and his two young children (whom Dave sired late in life) fatherless. My love and sympathy go out to Kellee, Chelsea, and Natalie, his brothers, Mark, Jim, Scott, sister Norma, stepmum Norma, and to Betty and Heinz, and to their families.