msb-0088 "Dave's Insanity Sauce"

msb-0088 "Dave's Insanity Sauce"

Feedback comes first so...

I seem to have touched a warm and fuzzy spot with the bloggers with my last post. (I don't know if they're responding to my blog or my podcast but since one is virtually the other, it doesn't matter.)

My mail was overwhelmingly positive and proved my point: high-tech equals empowerment over a disability.

Of course "we" know all about that. We're bloggers and, in a couple of cases, podcasters.

But that's just us. We never hear from, or almost never about, those people who aren't plugged in. (If we expected to, that would called a systemantic flaw. [But since I am aware, it just means that I have to use another communication channel.])

That got my wife, Lee, to start on at me about helping people get computers.

There are all kinds of ways to get free or nearly free computers for the disabled.

If you're in the Chicago area, look into helping people who need them by logging onto http://www.jimmullen.com/.

Jim Mullen is a Chicago police officer who was left disabled, paralyzed from the neck down, after getting shot in the line of duty.

There is FreeByte ( http://www.freebyte.com/free_computers/#freecomputers ) which lists resources of all types throughout the world.

The audience from across the pond might have friends who could benefit from this. There are resources for them as well, though this involves Googling around.

The general consensus with all disability groups is that the use of computers, and specially of the use of the web, is very empowering and can make the difference between isolation and a feeling of abandonment and being able to successfully cope with the disease, regardless of what it is.

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To Joyce:

we're all, uh, concerned about BrainCheese, but she's actually okay.

I laughed out loud at her blog post from Sunday, December 3rd, 2006. "ABC = Already Broadcasting Crap; CBS = Clearly Broadcasting Crap; and NBC = Nicely Broadcasting Crap." A brilliant and succinct summary of the value of modern broadcasting media. :-)

But seriously, maybe we should instigate a "buddy system" of MSers, sort of like having a LoJack for the unwell. (Though if we were all wired, we should be wired to somebody who can actually do something. Concern is touching, but ineffective when you need a tourniquet instead. :-)

About your idea about my idea about giving us all a PC.

I'm just thinking that for $15o, its actually the lowest cost way to ensure a certain minimum of connectivity and since they small and portable, these laptop PCs make a pretty fair base line.

Actually, I'd make one small addition: a port to a SRAM dongle so you're not stuck carrying the whole thing around all the time.

It would be useless waste of money in my case. I already have lots of machines and techie toys.

The MS Society is the wrong vehicle for giving away these PCs. Let the MS Society do what the MS Society does; hold fund raisers and bike-a-thons and walk-a-thons and read-a-thons and what ever else they do. That's their job.

But it would be good for the gummint to give one to every patient, current, and recurrent (I'm not suggesting past and future since that would require them to care or to be prepared and nobody's ever going to accuse the average bureaucrat of prescience,) so that they can have complete records.

We don't matter worth a sh*t to them (or to anybody else.) That's just the way it is. Deal with it!

But the gumming wants to keep their damn records straight. That we would be the recipients of their goodness isn't important here. Its a side effect of getting us to keep our records straight.

(Getting a procedure done or a prescription filled? Let the hospital or doctor or pharmacy or clinic update your records.)

And the hospital or doctor or pharmacy or clinic can have access to the complete records. That would get rid of answering the same stupid questions over and over and over again.

Who knows, we might get it wrong. The gummint wouldn't like that...

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Oh, by the way, Joyce, you don't need an iPod to listen to my show.

That's only good if you want to carry the show around.

You don't even need iTunes (though you can get it for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ )

But its not the only podcatcher out there. (There's also iPodder at http://www.ipodder.org/directory/4/ipodderSoftware )

Its just extremely convenient to use iTunes.

If you had it, you could just open a web page on my podcast at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=120932170
) and say yes to all the questions until you see my late, great cat Wiki and then simply subscribe.

Its the easiest way really.

Some people keep going back to MSBPodcast.com time and again when its so much easier to just let iTunes do it and download whatever is new.

---- You don't need a iPod

Onto some other news.

The production schedule of this podcast is about to go through some irregularities (like its regular now? :-) as I have to rewire my home office to integrate a brand spanking new Behringer Xenix 1204FX mixer console. (I "love" buying these swell, geeky toys; there's all these knobs and sliders and cross-connections and plugs and switches and buttons and crap like that. :-)

I'm going to have to learn how to integrate this into my recording work flow (rear: routine) or how to alter the work flow (read: routine) to accommodate the new equipment and capabilities.

I am also going to have to learn how to use the effects properly. Things have changed considerably since my high-school days. (Like, what ever happened to the VU decibel meters that looked so cool as the needle went back and forth with the volume?)

I must confess I have no idea what some of these effects are or what they do to the sound.

Well maybe I do but they may have had different names back then.

It also might be that what I learned about sound playing with a Moog synthesizer no longer applies, (attack, sustain, decay, reverb and echo loops, Doppler phase shifting [the sound you get from a Leslie rotating speaker on a Hammond organ,] and so on.)

This is a chance to play around, get it wrong until I get it right, and learn.

The end result will be a better sounding show with a richer, warmer sound, (I've got these two great XLR AKG C1000S microphones that are just "beg-hing" for me to use them :-)

I also want to work on Skype call integration so I can achieve better technique for recording interviews. Then I'll be able to record shows with a partner (hey podneh?)

As well, I'm going to use the opportunity to start bouncing some of these spam emails; so my email account is going to be out of reach during Christmas. I've cut my limits down to nothing so things will start bouncing back to them like the accounts are dead.

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What's with the title of this episode?

Am I endorsing "Dave's Insanity Sauce"?

No I am not, but I have to tell you that my wife made some oven baked potato chips with it and they were absolutely delicious.

• Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C).
• Slice a potato into thin slices or slim wedges,
• spray with olive oil (we just got a Misto prayer,)
• sprinkle with "Dave's Insanity Sauce" and
• bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes or until they are crisp.

Salt to taste, (since we're both Québecois, we sprinkle some vinegar on them [it cuts the grease]) and "enjoy!"

But watch out how much "insanity sauce" you put on them; your tongue can get numbed and there are, uh, other problems later. (Its got one Hell of an "after burner" caused by a bad case of "flamin' a-hole". :-)