Oldies But Goodies Appeal

I hate like hell to do this but it's important.

There's a cocker spaniel rescue group in the Virginia area called Oldies But Goodies.  They shelter and place older cockers, getting them medical attention if required. Because I donated, I get these adorable, heart-breaking emails about what they're up to. Since there are no local cocker rescue groups, I donate to OBG.

The latest email talks about the Freedom 46 - 46 cockers rescued from a barn in Virginia, with no one exercising them or filling water bowls. I will spare you further details but you can read about them at the site.

OBG is requesting money and/or foster homes. Mrs leftystrat and I sent what we could - perhaps you can too. Marshall urges you to support rescue groups and SPCAs; after all, he is a rescue.

Stupid pet-owning bloggers with their damn causes.

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Thanks. And now we return you to our special, damn near patented mix of sarcasm, libertarianism, Observational Nonsense and sarcasm.

Jared's Folly

You think because I referenced Subway that I'm going to have a whack at Jared and the allegations of kiddie porn. Or a poke at Subway for the quality of their sandwiches. Or even the old bit about twelve inches not being twelve inches. But noooooo....

Every week I go to lunch with a friend at Subway. Exactly every two weeks, a large, loud African-American woman starts SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS at the poor Indian guys behind the counter. The specific topic doesn't seem to matter, but it generally revolves around a feeling of being owed something. The volume will start loud and then go through the roof. The entire (alleged) restaurant goes quiet, as the woman ratchets up in temper and volume. She badgers the hell out of an employee across the counter. This is made more interesting by the two-way language difficulties.

Eventually somebody will threaten to call the police. One arguer kept telling the employee to 'GO AHEAD -CALL THE POLICE', as she backed out the front door. Another encouraged calling in a tone that shook the building, as her girlfriend/partner got up to the cash register and yelled even louder.

An African-American couple looked at each other uncomfortably and left without finishing their food.

Finally one of the employees decided to end the play by giving the bellowing monster what she wanted. I'm going to guess this was to end the noise (our ears were bleeding) or because if he called the police, he'd be retired long before they arrived. In Philly, the police cannot be bothered to show up unless you specifically say GUN.

After it was over, I stood up on my chair and yelled `YOU... I'M GOING TO STAND HERE AND SCREAM AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS UNTIL YOU GIVE ME WHAT I WANT.'  The restaurant laughed and applauded. My job there was done.

As we walked out, we noticed six policemen approaching, obviously by accident. I wanted to suggest they come back in two weeks.....

• What in the multiverse is up these days?  When I read the news, I often wonder when we officially switched to 1984 or some other science fiction novel set in some black, ugly future. The nonsense was piled upon us a piece at a time, so most of use didn't notice (the Kardashians were on). Every time I read a story about immigration, my head spins. Let me see if I understand this correctly:

1. We are allowing hundreds of thousands of (mostly) Mexicans to stream across the border, due to it being largely porous. If we're that concerned about 'terrorism', why are we allowing this?
2. Our border with Canada is sealed tight, as are the international airports.
3. The occupant of the White House and his accomplices welcome the illegals, referring to them as undocumented.
4. The illegals are treated to healthcare, education and drivers licenses, on our dime. We, who can't afford our own insurance, are forced to subsudize insurance for people who can't be bothered to follow the immigration laws of our country.
5. An administration that won't enforce its own immigration laws.
6. An administration that fails to deport illegals in most cases, even after they commit serious crimes and sneak back repeatedly.
7. DC wants to give illegal aliens the right to vote.

• So tell me - what's going on here? Am I completely missing the point? Am I so turned around that I'm abnormal(moreso) and this situation is perfectly ok?

Speaking of insurance, I had a real Insurance Experience the other day. My wife went to pick up some meds and was told the insurance refused to pay for them because they needed a precertification.  Mrs. leftystrat has been on this medicine for five years and it's cheap and generic; no reason not to pay (other than the fact that insurers don't want to pay any claim). The pharmacy faxed a form to her doctor for precertification.

A week later(!), she called her doctor to see where the process was. As it turned out, the process wasn't. No record of request or action so they said they'd call the next day.  I should mention that it's a good thing we had a backup supply: if this were an antidepressant, she'd be shooting from the roof or in schoolyards by now.

The next day the doc's office told her it should be waiting for her at the pharmacy. A little later she the office called back to say that the pills weren't entirely waiting for her at the pharmacy. The insurer called the pharmacist but he was being uncooperative [no way this could be true- they're like family]. 

The wife gave up and paid cash for the meds. This was NOT alright with me. I got on the phone with the drug coverage people, who wanted the prescription number. There is no prescription number, so I cursed a bit and hung up. Then I called the main number, waited whilst being told how valuable I am, eventually arriving at an actual human. SHE explained that there's a medical coverage I.D. and a drug coverage I.D. The insurer approved the medicine under the medical I.D. and whenever the pharmacist tried to put it through, it got rejected. This person grasped the situation immediately (she'll be fired next week) and said all we had to do was move the precert from one number to the other (I almost fell out of my chair). 

You know what's coming, right?

She couldn't transfer the precert - she had to connect me with the Precert Department (aaaaaaaaaargh!).

The Precert Department did not tell me how valuable I was, which was a harbinger of things to come. Earl answered the phone and I explained (slowly and patiently) the situation. He was much more interested in the dosage and amount of the medicine than actually fixing the problem. Then he stated he could fax a form to the doctor to get the process started. I kept telling him (slowly and patiently) that the process was already started: all he had to do was move the precert. He kept telling me (slowly and patiently) that he would fax a form to the doctor to get the process started. Once again I explained to Earl how easily it could be fixed. Once again Earl said we'd have to start the process over.

It was at about this point that I decided it would be best to dispense with slowly and patiently. I raised my volume and lowered my pitch, explaining to Earl that I needed them to pay for this medicine TONIGHT and how was he going to make that happen?

At this point I heard a higher-pitched YAAAAAY! The pharmacy called my wife and said it finally went through... there was celebrating (and we ate Robin's minstrels). I bid Earl a fond adieu, only to discover that the insurance company only covered half the cost of the pills.  Ain't insurance grand?

• Speaking of insurance (and we were), I found an article stating that insurers are asking for twenty to fifty four percent cost increases next year.  HUH?  It seems that because more people are insured (thanks, Obama), the insurance companies (who wrote the laws) aren't making money on the deal. What was Obama's response? Call the state regulators and tell them to examine the rate increases carefully. Why is it that he and the rest of the criminals aren't run out of office hastily? We got screwed last year and now they're adding another helping of Screwed Soup. 
• Everybody who voted for Obama, raise your hand.  Good - YOU pay for my insurance. It's YOUR fault. 
• And don't go voting for Hillary, you kool-aid drinking socialist New World Order sycophants.

So there are three children whose parents are going through a nasty divorce. They refuse to see their father so a judge, full of good intentions, sentenced them all to Juvenile Detention for the entire summer. It came down to a pissing match between three recalcitrant children and a judge. In these cases, the judge always has the bigger member, even if female, as is the case here.  Aparently the kids really don't want to visit Dad, as all of them chose detention over visitation. This would be funny if it weren't so serious. Who are we kidding - it's funny now.

• Portland, Oregon, has taken on a very controversial Neighborhood Beautification Program. When I was young, it was common to throw your old sneakers over the power lines. I have no idea why. In Portland, they are doing the same thing, only with dildos. Just like sneakers, they are going up in pairs, in beautiful white and bright orange. Bright orange? I didn't know they came in bright orange. Excuse me.... I have to run an errand......

A divorced couple is fighting over frozen embryos. The female half wants to insert them into a surrogate, which isn't going over well with the male half.  Hey - leggo my embryos!

A Moment of Music

These guys have been slagged off unfairly, as a copycat band and as a grunge band. Stone Temple Pilots are a refreshing surprise of musicianship, writing, versatility and heroin abuse.  Their hits, and there have been many, are typically loud and raucous. I appreciate some of their more complex songs, which they can't play live, as they're overdubbed and there are too few musicians to reproduce them.

The DeLeo brothers, Dean and Robert, play guitar and bass, respectively. Robert doesn't get recognized for his contributions, which are solid yet busy and sound like James Jamerson (Motown). Dean plays many instrument flavors and tones, making things very interesting to the ear.  Eric Kretz is a drummer in the pounding style of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). Scott Weiland is a very talented singer with a lot of baggage. Twice, after appearances on the Howard Stern Show, he went back on heroin.  Scott is bipolar, which probably drives this behavior. He's a great frontman, a real chameleon. He was let go and replaced by Chester Bennington, of Linkin Park. Personally I'm not thrilled but he's certainly decent.

Daisy is a rare instrumental. One of Dean's secret talents is slide guitar. He sets his tone beautifully and really uses his slide lyrically, instead of the 'normal' slide routine.

One of STP's surprises is their variety. You can listen to five songs and not know it's the same band. One of my favorite STP tunes is Atlanta. Listen to this and tell me you don't hear the Doors.  Hello It's Late is another change of style. Does this sound like their hit Plush? One of my wife's favorites is Bipolar Bear. Note the acoustic going into the faster chaotic electric section. Like Jimmy Page, DeLeo is a master of layering and many tones. There are all sorts of things going on here that can't be accurately played live, although they manage to pull it off.

These guys play to serve the song - no heroics, except for the whole.  Listen and love.

Philly Guitar Show - Summer 2015

I made my religious pilgrimage to the Philly Guitar Show (in Oaks, PA, naturally) over the weekend.

We got out of the car and went toward the entrance,  noticing a lot of strange-looking people. Very strange-looking people. Remembering that there's typically a reptile show along with the guitar show, we continued.  But these people weren't reptiles. They were wearing really bizarre hats, helmets and clothing.

FURRIES!!!

False alarm - these youngsters appeared to be from the fantasy-prone video generation. There was a gaming show.  And there was no entrance for the guitar show, which was incredibly odd.  We had missed the sign that stated the show was moved to another hall. At said hall, we observed middle-aged dudes out front, smoking. Ah yes, the guitar show.

It was cheaper this year, probably because it was smaller (grumble).  The greyhound adoption people were there, as usual, with three really sweet dogs (throw-aways from dog racing tracks). They have lovely temperaments and are really not that active (two were spread across a large dog bed).

I located a pair of new Taylors; a 200 series ($699) and a 400 series ($1700+).  The 200 felt really nice, with a very comfortable neck and sounded good. The 400 had a more rounded neck and didn't play or sound much better. Although the 400 is obviously better-constructed, I would have bought the 200 if I were in the market.

Lefty Taylor 200 series

Later on I found an interesting burst Strat. It was earlier 70's because it had no serial number on the headstock, no skunk stripe on the back of the neck and a three-position switch. It played pretty well and I inquired about it. Turns out it was a `71 and they wanted $12k for it.  Oops. It sure didn't play that nicely.

There were some beautiful Marshalls there. Breathtaking stuff at breath-stealing prices. There was a `74 100w JTM full stack in pretty good condition. The stack was priced at $3500. I have this head in 50w - getting old sometimes has its advantages. There were some $7k heads and $8k cabinets. I saw an 8x10 cab and all sorts of rare stuff, including a 20w Marshall p.a. (no, really). Don't even ask.

1974 Marshall 100w stack

Usually there are some spectacular really old guitars but I didn't notice too many, as they were all backwards. Ok, there were quite a few 50's Gibsons and Fenders. Sweet stuff. The market must be down, as the prices required only an arm - not a leg too.

BEST TAG of the show award: 1960 Strat - some 1960 parts.



Up near the end, I saw a Fender Coronado in antigua (PUKEBURST)!  Behind it.....
HOLY F---- IT'S A LEFT-HANDED PUKEBURST STRAT!!!  
I have one - it's my #1 guitar. I deperately want a matching Tele but I'm open to another Strat. It could be mine for the bargain price of $2700 (a bit on the high side, to be polite).  After clearing the drool from my mouth, I picked it up and gave it a go. Appearancewise, it was a perfect match to mine.  Playingwise, something was off. I'm out of practice, so that might be it. I'm also experiencing a nasty side effect of a medicine; the shakes. That could be it too.  As the guitar turned out to be local, I wanted to bring my guitar around for a comparison.

1978 LEFTY antigua (pukeburst) Strat

my 1977 lefty pukeburst Strat

When I got home, I picked mine up and it played like butter.  In my substantial experience with late seventies Fenders, there are two necks; Heavenly and DOGS. Mine was heavenly, the other was a DOG.  It would have been nice to have it for the collection but I obviously don't have unlimited funds.

Got to talk to some vendors too. One guy had a bunch of Strymon pedals. These babies go for $400-500 each and some people have several on their pedalboards. The guy told me that he would never have predicted the popularity of these pedals, given the cost. Yet he can't keep them in stock. Also chatted with a vintage pedal guy who had an H&K tube Rotosphere.  This box is a Leslie emulator (those huge brown boxes with rotating horns that sit behind organ players). It's almost impossible to emulate these but this pedal is The Stuff. Jeff Beck uses one, so it should probably be good enough for me. Once I buy it, I mean.

Gorgeous Gibson!

It was a really good show. I'll see you at the Fall Philly show.

Waiting for the Stop Sign to Turn Green

SUPREME IRONY: A UK man who was struck by lightning and died was carrying a selfie stick. Even Mother Nature hates selfie sticks (and selfies).

• Beware, by-the-hour hotel room renters in Zimbabwe: the hotel might be taking video of you and selling it. Nigerians simply can't be trusted, in hotels or spam.

A Seattle Seahawks quarterback said God has spoken to him and he is remaining celibate until marriage to a singer named Ciara.  While I support their right to live any way they please, when most people hear voices, they get Special Medicine. Perhaps the quarterback just needs some Special Medicine. God told him that he needs him to lead Ciara. So let's add delusions of grandeur.

• Yet another Star Wars spinoff will tell the back-story of Han Solo. Disney announced that the next film in the series will follow the wacky adventures of Stan Polo, Han Solo's second shift mechanic in charge of footrests. Also expected in the franchise: Chewbacca's stylist, Arthur Furry, and his story about being Hairdresser to the Empire aboard the ship Millenial Poofter.

Civil rights groups are suing Chicago for more gun control. In related news, the liquor industry is suing automobile manufacturers for drunk driving accidents.

• An illegal alien, deported to Mexico five times, has shot and killed an American woman in San Francisco. Perhaps Trumpie has a point after all.  The 'undocumented' man chose San Francisco because it is a Sanctuary City that ignores Customs requests, so he wouldn't be prosecuted. Incidentally, the gun is registered to a federal agent.
• If the US guarded their borders half as well as Canada, we'd be in pretty good shape. Canada will not admit anyone who can't show they can pay their way or plans to work without proper documentation (so they will not take work from Canadians). Also, they will not admit people with certain criminal records or who are carrying drugs. Can you imagine this on the US/Mexican border? Obama would have a heart attack.

An ex-FIFA official has been banned for life from soccer.  I want this.

• Guitar World magazine has just posted an article on the Ten Best Stage Names of famous guitarists. Here are a couple:

1. Slash: Saul Hudson [Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver, Snakepit]
2. John Denver: John Deutschendorf
3. Alex Lifeson: Alex Zivojinovich [Rush]
4. Zakk Wylde: Jeff Wielandt [Ozzy, Black Label Society]
5. Yngwie Malmsteen: Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback [Oy Vay Malmsteen]
6. Steven Tyler: Steven Tallirico [Aerosmith - ok, technically not a guitarist]
7. Tony Curtis: Bernie Schwartz [sorry, couldn't resist]

According to the BBC, Child sexual abuse inquiry 'could last until 2020'. Perhaps they're waiting for all of the living abusers to die. It's not pretty out there, folks. They protect their own.

• It's been a bad year for AC/DC, with guitarist Malcolm Young going demented and drummer Phil Rudd sentenced in New Zealand to eight months of house detention for drug possession and making threats to kill. I wonder if you can play drums with an ankle bracelet.....

A man has been arrested in Curry County, New Mexico in the US after allegedly running around in the nude and stealing a police car. After retrieving the car, the seats were burned.

• It's been a year since Malaysian flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine. Anybody?

Slap Some Music Upon Us

Today's tittilating treat is Justin Currie, better known as the singer/writer for Del Amitri [at this point, one of my dear readers, and you know who you are, just passed out from excitement]. The Dels are Scottish, making for a hilarious situation when listening to them speak - they almost require subtitles, especially after too much alcohol (Justin, not you).  There's much to like about Del Amitri, from the interesting musical influences (don't ask me what they are) to the writing, singing and playing. Strangely enough, this is not another one of my posts about insanely great guitar players - this is just about the song.

There are many great songs from which to choose, so I'll give you a few favorites: Be My Downfall is a winner. It's a very clever piece about a guy and his girlfriend (and his wife).  One of my favorite deep haunting songs is Sleep Instead of Teardrops. I don't typically memorize or get too into lyrics but this song really intrigues me. It seems to be about serious loss. I'd love to hear about it from Mr. Currie's mouth because it's so serious. When listening, take note of the beautiful instrumentation and production. Also note an attempt to be Paul McCartney (or so I hear). Enjoy the live version of Always the Last to Know. Pay attention to another clever set of lyrics.

LG G4 - It's MINE

It might have had something to do with my wife getting a new phone (Galaxy S6) so I started researching phones. My phone for years has been a Galaxy SIII and while it performs admirably, it was getting long in the tooth. Plus it started to get busy doing Stuff but wouldn't let me know what kind of Stuff it was busy doing; instead it would ring but not answer when I told it to.

After much research, I decided on the LG G4. There are many reviews, almost all positve, and the negatives were things I didn't care about.  The main thrust of the decision was actually that my phone be bigger than my wife's. And faster. This is difficult to do with the S6 but the G4 has a slight edge. In fact, the S6 fits in the display area of the G4, a fact that dismayed the wife. My job was complete.

I was going to get a top of the line phone because I keep them for years, so why not get good equipment at the start? This pretty much left me deciding between the S6 and the G4.  One of the main points in favor of the G4 is that the S6's battery cannot be removed and you cannot add a memory card. Battery life was also a concern, with a few people complaining about the S6's inability to go a full day without recharging. Same in some cases for the G4. What I discovered is that both phones will go for a day, assuming you're not a heavy user. The G4 is much better than advertised but this might have something to do with me turning off most of the battery hogs (more later).

The first thing I noticed was that in its Otter case, the thing looks like an additional appendage, hanging from my pocket on a clip. It's built like a tank, only better protected.  The reviews were all atwitter over the many different-colored leather backs available. The sales guy apparently didn't know about these, as he didn't try to sell me one.  No matter - I wouldn't have purchased one... I'm not that kinda guy. The hard plastic back performs very well. The phone is very comfortable in my hand, which I didn't expect, due to its size.

The display was quite dim, which I didn't expect. I believe this is because the Otter case partially blocks the sensor, so I took the brightness off automatic. Now it's as bright as it needs to be.

The good news is my battery is lasting way longer than expected. My second full weekday with the phone left me with 87% after work. This is a small miracle, as the place where I work gets almost no signal. My old phone spent every minute trying to find a signal and ate its battery alive. This bodes well.

DESIGN

I'm a simple guy and I like a simple, non-blingy, non-battery-wasting display. This Material Design thing is total crap. I noticed it on my wife's phone and mine is the same. I normally don't have much to say about design, but this is excrement. I turned off the live wallpapers and audio bonging for every touch.

My favorite replacement launcher is Nova. It's great software for simple guys and bling people, available at the Google Play store.  You can set up your phone any way you want; with labels, drawers, icons, wallpapers (I like black) and all sorts of other interesting options. It uses less power than the stock launcher and I don't hate it (this is a compliment).

You can add buttons to the bottom, where Back, Main and Recent buttons live. This is a useful trick.

One major design change is that the phone buttons are on the rear of the phone. I wasn't sure I was going to get along with this but it worked out well. When I used my other phone, I was always hitting one of the buttons and causing myself much grief. You can also program Notes and Camera to come right up with a double-tap of the Volume Up or Volume Down buttons. The headphone jack is on the bottom of the phone, next to the charging jack (the usual micro-usb). If you get the Otter case, there are  flaps that flip up to reveal these two items.

The camera is said to be phenominal. It's got Many Megapixels. The front camera has more megapixels than the rear camera on my SIII. I'm not a photographer but all of the reviews give it enthusiastic thumbs up. The few pictures and videos I've taken have come out quite well.


SOUND

I can sum this up by saying This Phone Sounds Good. The speaker is not stereo but who cares?

PHONE

It works well. It's quite snappy. It makes and receives clear phone calls. It has not disappointed me at all. It plays my audio and video files wonderfully. I have yet to give it the Bounce Test.


HANDY SOFTWARE

i just plain don't like the Gmail and email apps, due to lack of configureability, so I install K9 mail. This allows as many accounts as you like (Gmail, Pop, IMAP, etc) and more options. Try a Calendar widget if you need a bit of help in the organization department (I can use all the help I can get).

ES File Explorer is a great app for looking at your file system and moving necessary things around. I got a wireless widget, which helps a lot, since I use wireless at home and not anywhere else.

I don't like most sound playing apps, especially the ones that come stock. It really bothers me that the players HAVE TO go out and find every single piece of audio or video on the phone. It took a while but I found a player that will play ONLY the directory I select. It's called DeadBeef. No, really. And for the phone, home computer, tablet on most operating systems, VLC is the best player for my money (free). It runs on almost everything and plays almost everything. But it will go out and index all of your media. Google apps/books/music/magazines/movies all phone home, which doesn't work for me.

If you're a guitar or similar player. GStrings is an excellent tuner.


VERIZON DISINGENUOUSNESS

I use Verizon because it's got the best signal here, period. However, there are a few things that are downright sneaky about their version of Android (each phone is customized by the carrier). When you select Voicemail, you're asked to sign up for an enhanced voicemail service that will transcribe some of the voicemail and send it to you. There is no normal voicemail option but I eventually discovered that you dial #86. Put it in your contacts and put a shortcut on the main menu.

This tactic is also employed with texting. When you hit the existing texting button, you're asked to sign up for a premium texting app. No-go, Verizon.  The real texting app is in your apps - just drag the icon to a desktop. I'm also receiving offers for a 'free trial of VZW Name...' something. It came up as a text and I can't remove it from the taskbar. This doesn't kill me but it bothers me.

Speaking of Verizon, I got screwed royally. Almost a year ago, I ordered service via the phone. Last week I discovered I had a multi-line plan (I have one phone) and was paying for insurance. I did not order a multi-line plan or insurance. I strongly advise getting insurance but my phone was so old that it wasn't worth it (would you get collision insurance on an old car?). While the nice folks in the store got it fixed going forward, I have to contact Verizon for a retroactive refund.

That aside, Verizon has been taking customer service lessons. The folks in the store were more than friendly and very helpful. I got follow up phone calls and emails. Verizon sent me a few Getting Started emails. I approve.


TIN FOIL TIME

I've beaten this horse well past death.  My tin foil hat is on order, so you know my views as you're reading this. I don't want to hear about social media, location, GPS or the CLOUD. As a result, I turned off all of the aforementioned services.  If you'd like to order your own tin foil helmet, go into APPS and turn off everything you don't need. Cloud backup, GPS, location services,  Put a lock on the main screen and encrypt the device (all available under Settings). If you turn off location services, you won't be able to locate a lost or stolen phone but I'm not planning on losing mine. Back your phone up to your computer. Avoid the Cloud - if you can't touch your data, it's no longer yours.

There's a free firewall called No Root Firewall. If you install this, you an control any program's access to the internet. There's no reason for notepads, local games and file managers to access the internet, while it's kind of important for an internet browser.

Do NOT install software from anywhere but Google Play, unless you are positive that the software is clean. This is the most common way to get viruses or malware. Having said that, I recommend F-Droid's software [fdroid.org]. It's open source, free, free of crapware and doesn't Phone Home.

DO NOT USE WIFI outside of your house or people you know unless you have a VPN. If you ask what a VPN is, DO NOT USE WIFI outside of your house. Everything you do can be intercepted. You can connect to a fake access point. Your pets could die. I'm warning you.  There's a great pair of programs called Wifi Warning and Safe Areas. They let me know when I'm out of my own wireless range and lock the phone. When I'm in wireless range, I can just swipe to open. This will work with more than one wifi access point.

IN SUMMARY

Your mileage will definitely vary.  Nobody is as crazy as me with customizations and privacy. The battery won't last as long and it won't be as secure. It will also be much more attractive than mine, regardless of what you do to it.

I can say that after a few days, I like this phone. With two weeks to return it, I don't anticipate making that trip.  Ask questions if you have them.


UPDATES:

I still like the phone. It's snappy and I don't scream at it and wonder why it can't perform its singular function of making phone calls. I get great coverage (except at work, but hell, it's only eight very important hours of my day), but I work in a Dead Zone, into which no carrier's signal penetrates.

I still hate the Material Design or whatever the hell they call it, even though I've managed to eradicate most of it.  The update to Android 6 will come later this year, bringing many improvements, including more granular control of permissions.

I love the popup incoming text messages, which can be answered or ignored with one touch.

The rear-facing buttons, which I initially wondered about, turned out to be fantastic, especially for someone who never failed to accidentally push the side buttons on his last phone, causing random hangups and fart-in-church volume increases. I read that it would be very easy to locate the volume buttons, due to the patterns in them, although mine didn't seem to have any.  This was immediately solved by removing the plastic on the volume buttons (who says I am not the smartest pup in the litter?).

I encrypted both the device's storage and the additional SD card. What the manual (such as it is) neglected to tell me was that when you encrypt, you have no choice but to accept the login code/PIN/pattern all the time, including using it in safe areas. So every time my phone indicates something, I have to unlock it. It's a PITA but it's certainly safer.

I finally managed to make the text message tone different from other tones (my fault again).

The only serious complaint I have is that the horizontal keyboard is no bigger than the vertical keyboard. It's downright stupid (unless it's another obvious function that I missed, but I doubt it). I have no patience for texting, especially when it involves ADD and Typing Dyslexia.

Because Google keeps a record of everything you say, I disabled voice commands. Some are available in Dolphin Browser, although I'm trying to determine the security issues. Yes, voice operation is a wonderful gee-whiz option but I'm not giving up that much data at this point.

NOTE TO VERIZON USERS:

All carriers are supplied with a basic Android phone. Then they proceed to add or subtract bloatware or useful functions. Verizon removed the blocklist and ability to set texting tones for each contact. I can't find a single good reason for this although Verizon has some ridiculous official statement on it.

The Strangest of Coincidences

Yesterday, a number of sites and company interruptions occurred. United Airlines experienced a period of over an hour where their planes were grounded. The New York Stock Exchange had an outage of over four hours. The Wall Street Journal's site was down.

I am not taking a position on this; I am just asking you to put your Thinking Hat on. My Thinking Hat got mixed up with my Bondage Hat, causing all sorts of problems at home.

UNITED

United announced a network connectivity issue was to blame. Shortly thereafter, it became an automation issue. This morning, a router was to blame, along with a semi-technical explanation of how difficult it was to troubleshoot the issue. [While a router can cause a network connectivity issue, I tend to doubt it. Any serious network will have redundancy to prevent outages.]

The computer problem in the airline's reservation system caused the FAA to impose what is known as a ground stop at 8:26 a.m. ET, meaning United flights were not allowed to take off. It lifted the stop for feeder airlines that fly under the name United Express about 15 minutes later, but it took until just before 9:47 a.m. for the ground stop to be lifted for United flights.

An airline official said "there was no hacking whatsoever" in the outage. Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson assured the public that United's outage was not connected to a computer problem that disrupted trading at the New York Stock Exchange.

In another recent United grounding, several passengers tweeted that they were told the problem was an issue with bogus flight plans being sent to the airline’s computers. United referred to the problem as "dispatching information".


NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE

Around 11:30 am, trading on the New York Stock Exchange came to an abrupt halt. According to the NYSE, there was a technical issue. The outage ran until 3:15.

Once again, the Exchange and federal authorities said it wasn’t the result of a hack.  Isn't that wonderful? Little to no information has come out about what caused the outage, but we know, beyond shadow of a doubt, that this isn't a hack. Or terrorism. Or Anthrax.

Related or not, this is the tweet from Anonymous the previous evening:

Wonder if tomorrow is going to be bad for Wall Street.... we can only hope.

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) July 8, 2015

Also completely coincidental was a tweet from Senator Bill Nelson:

Three major computer malfunctions on same day give appearance of an attack, serve as reminder Congress must pass a cybersecurity bill

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) July 8, 2015

WALL STREET JOURNAL

The website of the Wall Street Jounal went down at about 11:45 am, sorta.  The newspaper's homepage displayed a 504 outage, though other sections continued to function. The 'glitch' was corrected by 12:46 pm.

NBC News' Pete Williams reported that officials do not think the glitches at United and the NYSE are connected, and it's possible that with the NYSE news, The Wall Street Journal's homepage is crashing under intense traffic. [snicker]


COMPLETELY UNRELATED

In California, there have been at least eleven separate cases of someone cutting fiber internet lines.



And there we have it, whatever it is.
There sure are a lot of coincidences here.
Again, I don't have enough information to arrive at a decent conclusion but I wanted to present the facts so far. Odds are we aren't going to hear much more and will be expected to forget it.

Thanks for thinking with me.

Houthi and the Blowfish

RARE TECH ITEM
Every now and then I veer off this blog's satirical/sarcastic bent to mention a tech item or two (not doing so is what got me thrown off my last platform).  Let's start with Windows.

Microsoft products are unsafe at any speed by design. Fact-based reminders that Windows is not designed for security, regardless of version, patching, day of the week, or whether the NSA is itchy or not that week.

• We interrupt this tech segment to bring you urgent ancient music news: have you ever noticed how bad the snare or snapping sound is on Tom Jones' It's Not Unusal is? It's way up there in the Annals of Bad Sound.  That aside, you can hear the guitar semi-clearly too and it's a good thing: Jimmy Page (you know, Led Zeppelin) played it. Jimmy and John Paul Jones were on a huge percentage of hits out of England around this time.

AUDIO TECH ITEM

I'm not what you'd call a fan but the Grateful Dead were certainly tech pioneers. No, really. From mass communications to tapers and p.a. systems, the Dead were at the forefront (even though some of them were occasionally waaaaay at the back).

• Back to the TPP. As you may remember, the president has negotiating power for really bad trade agreements and Congress has a Yes/No vote. This was rushed through and I can't imagine why. It turns out to be a gift to Big Pharma (Big Surprise). This document was kept secret from the public (the most transparent administration in history). They really need to go.

I ordered some stuff online. It took about a week. Then I ordered something else from the same place. Today I got a confirmation that my order had been updated to Shipped status. Great, I thought... I'll get the item quickly. Oh, wait a minute, they used USPS tracking. I checked online and found out that my item had been shipped and arrived in my mailbox six days ago.  Yes, six days later, I got confirmation I received the initial package. Such speed and efficiency.

• I don't know if it's circumstance or simply taking notice, but I have heard the word peculiar quite a number of times this week. Give a listen for it. It's not the sort of word one hears often, yet it plagues me like the past, in which Tom Petty haunted me no matter where I went or what I was listening to or watching.

My dog wanted to perform a bit of science the other night: he wanted to know if I could fly. This took the form of standing up as I was carefully walking around and over him. As it turns out, not quite as carefully as I had at first thought. The science proved that I cannot fly so much as plummet, slipping on some handy papers and bouncing off the coffee table onto the floor. So the dog has his answer and fortunately I have nothing but a very painful (and near-fatal) knee scrape to show for it.

• Speaking of cats, have you ever noticed that cats have a sixth sense? They know where you're going to be and place themselves there a split second before you do. As was recently suggested, it's because cats are assholes. This also explains why the cat drapes himself over the path to any door so the dog won't cross him. The dog would gladly walk a mile in the wrong direction rather than cross the cat. This is extremely puzzling, as the dog will walk right up to the cat's food bowl and nudge him out of it.

According to just-released court documents, Bill Cobsy purchased Quaaludes in order to give them to women before having sex with them (does anybody remember 'ludes?).  I guess groups of over twenty women aren't imagining things.  In an effort to make amends, the Cosby Estate is offering Rape Mansion Tours, complete with 'vitamin pills' and free drinks. Rape victims and women in general are encouraged to make appointments for personal tours.

• Wanna know what makes the country go round?  An agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program could create a bonanza for U.S. defense contractors who already are benefiting as the Obama administration tries to assuage Israeli and Gulf Arab concerns by cutting deals for more than $6 billion in military hardware.

HOW ABOUT SOME MUSICAL MALFEASANCE?

Sho' nuff. This weeks installment of The lefty Report features that little old band from Texas, ZZ Top. Jimi Hendrix referred to Billy Gibbons (gtr, voc) as a great up and coming guitarist - isn't that enough of an endorsement? 

Sure, I could go with the hits and videos everyone knows but that would be boring and atypical. I'm heading for the more obscure stuff that shows another side of the Top.  Let's start with Manic Mechanic, a great tune from the Deguello album, featuring his signature pitch changing effect on vocals. ZZ likes to throw in some humor from time to time, along with some really cool musical tricks. Next we have Heard it on the X, a great tune about Down South Radio, a studio tune included on Fandango, a live album. Give it a listen for some smokin' Texas bbq from earlier in their career.

Check out Live in Germany for a great insight into the pre-MTV band. Pay particular attention to Fool for Your   Stockings, a favorite at the leftystrat household - Those stockins are a real cross you must bare.

Occam's Razor Needs Sharpening

President Obama tells his French counterpart that the US is no longer spying on France after the latest Wikileaks revelations.  Sure we aren't. We continue, however, to spy on our own citizens.

• Newly discovered Australian mammal mates itself to death.  Kinda like most American males would, given the chance.

So the other day, we're out driving and what do we pass but a Jehovahs Witness center.  I've never seen one before in my life.  I decided it would only be fitting to knock on their door and ask them to have a conversation about the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  Don't you hate it when your wife won't let you out of the car? [which reminds me... I have to go shopping for just the right colander for my drivers license picture]

I collect interesting phrases that I have heard. Here are the latest:

• You steal one car and all of the sudden, you're a car thief.
• You've got to slide up and down on the hard thing,
• Let me show you my jetpack.
• Uh oh, the electric company is here - the power is going to go out.
• Please bring ant spray.
• I  love algebra.
• I have used algebra in real life.

Usually I come upon Stuff. Stupid Stuff that's so obvious that there's no way I could have thought of it. Today's example is headphones. I have to use headphones at work because I wouldn't want the wonderful music I listen to to grace the ears of my coworkers (pearls before swine and all that).  Guys - put on your headphones... you will gain greater perspective on your music - particularly the musicians. It's also easier to figure out how to play music by checking out what's in which ear.  leftystrat - Super Genius<TM Acme>. One song that will make your headphone-ensconced ears spin is Jeff Beck's Cause We've Ended as Lovers, with Max Middleton's stereo-panned Fender Rhodes electric piano.

• Remember how the USA Freedom Act was going to rein in the NSA? That act authorized a six month transition. When the title is Freedom, you're not getting Freedom.

This morning I heard about a big storm last night. The National Weather Service has been called in to figure out if there was a tornado.  Does this strike you as strange?  The weather is over; why do we need an organization to step in and potentially make it worse?  This reminds me of the Heat Index: it's 94 out today but with the Heat Index, it's 104. Do we really need to be more miserable?

• The country's first gay divorce law firm opened in... guess where.... Philadelphia!

WINDOWS 10 ALERT

Microsoft's latest piece of malware, Windows 10, has introduced at least ONE security problem, in addition to the usual backdoors.  Enabled by default is a feature called WiFi Sense, which shares your WiFi password/credentials with friends. As if this weren't enough, the credentials sit in an encrypted file on a Microsoft server. Gee, no chance of MS or other letter agencies accessing this, is there? Your contacts from Outlook.com, Skype, and/or Faceyspaces can be shared.

Allegedly, the service will only allow sharing of the internet connection, not your hard drive, internal network or anything connected to it. Here's another Gates-ian solution: in order to opt out, you need to RENAME YOUR WIRELESS NETWORK by appending _optout. Opt Out may not be instant and it is recommended to change your password in the meantime.

This is yet another hijack from our friends in Redmond. When they start affecting the name of your wireless network, it's time to take them to task. The Redmond Menace must be stopped.

Remember - this nonsense is enabled by default. DISable it if you must downgrade to Windows 10. Just because it's the latest and a free downgrade from Windows 7 does not mean you need to install it. Better yet, defect to linux (free) or the piece of fruit operating system ($$).

What Great Music Do You Have This Week, lefty?

Funny you should ask... I decided to go with a more mainstream artist, yet to retain that certain something for musicians. Yes, it's perennial favorite Peter Frampton. I have mentioned before that my first concert ever was Peter Frampton, fresh from one of the greatest selling live albums of all time, Frampton Comes Alive. It was at Philthydelphia Humongo Stadium, in the midst of about 100,000 other sweaty, polite bodies. Down on the field, there were no assigned seats, so we were free to worm our way up front to see Peter and various other acts, like Lynyrd Skynrd and maybe Fleetwood Mac (with Stevie Nicks, when she was every guy's wet dream and every girl's fashion plate).

Philthydelphia Humongo Stadium was eventually razed, so the state's taxpayers could provide Corporate Welfare to fabulously wealthy sports team owners. This largesse provided for three stadiums in the state of PA.

Peter had some great albums (the black spinny things that you scratched up with a needle that required the hands of a skilled surgeon to manipulate), namely the ones that produced the songs that made up Frampton Comes Alive. My favorite album is called [wait for it....] Frampton and contains the studio versions of Baby I Love Your Way, Penny for Your Thoughts, (I'll Give You) Money, Nassau and Show Me The Way. Give it a listen - there's some great stuff there, which might be a pleasant surprise.

Mr. Frampton made the Talkbox popular (Show Me the Way, Do You Feel Like I Do?) and I had to get one. Incidentally, the golden-haired idol of millions has turned into a Bald Old Dude (like me) who continues to get better at the guitar and entertaining crowds (unlike me). Try to see him when he's touring, which he does frequently.

Chris Squire

The world lost one of its best bass players, Chris Squire, on June 27, 2015.

Chris was the bass player for Yes from 1968-2015.  It was announced that this would be the first tour for Yes without Chris, as he needed to undergo treatment for acute erythroid leukemia. Unfortunately Chris died at his Phoenix, Arizona home.

The band is going on tour with Toto.


If you had told me twenty years ago that Yes would be touring with Toto, I would have told you to seek professional help and I had some tickets to sell you for the Monkees' 50th Anniversary tour, with special guest, Jimi Hendrix.