Issue # 134 Zzaj Rant

7:59 am, 7/28/2013  Making American goulash this morning, enough to last for the week… along with the other dishes I have leftover from last week (& leftovers are best, eh?), I’ll have enough to take me through Friday, I’m sure.  Lots of clothes & dishes to wash now.  Received a couple of contributions yesterday (a big THANKS to those who contributed)… could use a couple more to keep my magazine going!  Nearly finished with issue # 134, soon be moving on to the next one.  More as it happens!

9:59 am, 7/27/2013  For all the promoters, artists and readers who have supported my magazine for the last 25 years (or so) – thank you, for without your support, the magazine/site would never have lasted this long.  As I draw closer & closer to retirement, I realize that without your continued support, I may have difficulty keeping this going, though… specifically for promoters/artists – with the (few) dollars you save in postage costs because of our long-standing policy of taking digital submissions, if you could visit PAYPAL and contribute (even) half of those postage costs to my account there – rotcod@rotcodzzaj.com, we would be “back in the black” for the coming years.  This is only a thought/suggestion, of course, and if the concept is offensive to you, I’m sorry; but for those who participate this way, I will be deeply appreciative!

5:58 PM, 7/21/2013 – An hour or so (yesterday) of MIX RADIO; time well spent & lots of fun (thanks, Jim)!  My second day of mandated furlough on the 19th was uneventful, except for seeing lots of reports that more furlough is loomin’ up for next year (we need to FIRE those clowns in Congress – worthless pieces of krap)! Got a few reviews posted up, including one from a fantastic player named Paul Speer – check him OUT! Getting mentally prepped for another four days of work – not complaining about that; gotta’ keep some income coming.  Listening to Robben Ford right now – some CLASSIC ROCK, to be sure – lovin’ it!  ‘k, that’s ’nuff for tonight… more this week as it happens.

7:46 PM, 7/17/2013  With all the corruption we are seeing in the political arena, injustice being served in Florida and a whole host of other disgusting events in the news, it seems ever more important to me that we SERIOUSLY CONSIDER a change to the political system that would render it non-political… what we need to do (& we need to start the effort today!!!) is establish a national lottery draft for EVERY POLITICAL OFFICE in the land… anyone who WANTS to be in an office is automatically disqualified from being in the lottery pool – in fact, what we really want are folks who do NOT want to be in office.  The names are placed in the pool (like the old Military draft system) with a list of standard entries, so when we go to vote, we can choose between the “candidates” based on their background… a few minimum qualifications would be in place – no felonies (things like murder, armed robbery, rape, etc.), a minimum education (GED would probably suffice)… if a person met those minimums, their name would AUTOMATICALLY be placed into the pool, then divvied up between the (currently) elective offices around the land… if a person was selected, their service would be MANDATORY… no “draft boards” letting them out because of rich daddies/mommies – everyone’s name would be in the hat.  Terms would be either a year or two years… after serving, they would NEVER have to serve again (& if they TRIED to serve again, they would be disqualified – we are trying to get the system RID of those who “want” to be in office)!  Think about it – this would mean that folks JUST LIKE YOU AND ME would be in office, and we would have a WHOLE lot better chance of getting legislation through the system that was of benefit to all of US (not the politicians or the corporations).  I’m thinking about putting up a petition to that effect somewhere on the net… what do you THINK?

08:52, 7/14/2013   I just spent two days of pure frustration trying to isolate a file download problem in Windows 7… a download would start when I triggered it, but then it would “freeze” after 30 seconds or so… an article on MOZILLA support reminded me of something I should have remembered – boot in SAFE MODE (with networking) then test the download… doh – I should have thought ot that – the article also pointed out that if it worked ok in safe mode, then other SW (most likely security software) was causing the issue.  After successful downloads in SAFE MODE, I checked through all the software & found that an older tool (apparently no longer “certified” for Windows 7) called PC TOOLS Firewall Plus was causing the issue.  After uninstalling that, the downloads no longer are interrupted.  Whew… two days of hail, but I’m finally back where I can download whatever I want without waiting for (literally) hours to get it!

9:00am, 7/12/2013 –    I’m not a real “happy camper” right now… as many of you know, I work for the United States Army here in Hawaii, and have been “hit” by the furlough… one (forced) day a week off without pay… if I had chosen to take a day off (with pay, of course), that would be different… but as long as I see politicians still drawing their full salaries & not having to share this travesty, I’m not happy with four days a month (or more) at significant pay cuts being forced upon me!  Oh, of course it gives me more time to work on the magazine, but (again), that should be my choice (I think) & not some big-wig in D.C. who isn’t sharing the burden with us.

     I’ll be using the RANT page in this issue in “diary” style, so check back next week to see what I’ve got to add… one final note for this week… if anyone knows of any legitimate “on-line” job opportunities that can be worked from home – please send me the links at rotcod@rotcodzzaj.com