Did you know the 1TB USB thumb drive exists?
A wonder of modern technology, the 1TB USB flash drive. The nerdy side of me wants one of these things...
...but I wouldn't buy it for one reason. It's insanely expensive, but that's only because it's still such a new technology at the time I write this. And it's a bit chunky at 2.8 x 1.1 x 0.8 inches. That's not physically big by any means, but for a flash drive, it's a fatty.
But here's something that will make you feel better instantly. 64GB flash drives are now insanely cheap, so if you haven't bought a USB pendrive/flash drive/thumb drive/whatever-you-want-to-call-it in a while, go ahead and get a 64GB. If you want even cheaper, get a 32GB flash drive. You can grab one for under 15 bucks now. Yes, really.
Some quick math:
A 32GB flash drive stores roughly the same amount of data as almost 7 DVD-5 discs. A 64GB flash drive holds roughly the same as 13.5 DVD-5 discs.
And 1TB is almost 213 DVD-5 discs.
Yeah.
DVD-5 is still the cheapest of the cheap, for now
Here's the 101 concerning DVD-5 discs.
When you want the cheapest possible way to store a bunch of data, you get DVD-5 discs. Purposely buy only 100-count spindles of them, and buy the one suited to your needs.
For discs intended to be used for data-only storage, you get DVD+R.
For discs intended to be used for movies to be played in a console player, you get DVD-R.
Yes, there are differences between +R and -R. I won't get into all the technical differences, but I will say this:
The entire reason you use the -R type in console players is because that's what was supported first since it is the older format. So no matter what console player you chuck a -R disc in, it will play. And by this, I mean a disc burned "movie style" with the VIDEO_TS folder. If you've ever burned DVD movies, you know what I'm talking about.
The entire reason you use +R type for data storage is because it's much better suited for it. DVD+R is multi-layer while -R is single-layer, you can mix video + data if you wanted to on +R whereas on -R you cannot, background formatting is allowed on +R, and there are other reasons.
Oh, and the best reason of all to use +R over -R for data storage: Far less chance of data corruption when reading or writing. You use -R, and you will encounter data screw-ups. Use +R, and the chance of that happening is decreased a great deal.
However - and I can't say this loudly enough - the only reason to use DVD-5 is because it's cheap and for no other reason.
If you can afford to store your stuff on flash drives, do it
USB flash drives are not the cheapest way to store data, but every year the price of flash memory keeps diving down.
What's the #1 reason to store on a flash drive? No moving parts. Anything that moves will break faster than something that doesn't. This is why traditional hard drives with spinning platters only have a reasonable life expectancy of 5 to 7 years while a USB flash drive can be used for 10 years before it starts majorly screwing up.
The only way to really kill a USB flash drive is to beat the crap out of it with constant file writes, such as running an operating system off of one. At some point, the flash drive won't allow data to be written to it anymore. You'll be able to read data, but not write.
And yes, that means if you have an older USB flash drive kicking around where you can still read data from it but can't write a thing without it corrupting like crazy, it's time to copy the data to another USB stick and chuck the old one in the trash.
The only other thing I know of that kills USB flash drives is if the contacts wear out, or the contacts become corroded just due to age.
To date, I have only had one USB stick fail on me. It was a 512MB (yes, MB and not GB) Sandisk cruzer stick. It still worked, but the thing just wouldn't hold any data no matter how many times I formatted it. I even low-level formatted it, and that didn't even work, so yeah, it was time to chuck it. The point is that it took almost 10 years for it to screw up that bad.
Having any media storage last 10 years is actually pretty damned good. Stellar, in fact. If you ever needed a reason aside from the convenience factor to use USB flash drives over DVD, well, there you go.
If you don't take notes, you will forget everything
I do something that most people don't do. I take notes.
For just about any task I have to do, if I don't jot it down as a handwritten note, I will forget it. And yes, it has to be handwritten.
Over the years, I've tried almost every electronic means of note taking. The only one I've not used is voice memos because there's really no way to organize those, so if you have a bunch recorded, you have to go through them all to find the one you're looking for, just like voice mail. And I can't stand voice mail.
When it comes to reminders, electronic notes are good for that, but it has to be in email. For example, I have a recurrent email set up that reminds me to take out the trash the day before trash day. If I didn't get that weekly email, I would forget to do it. When I get the email, I take out the trash, then delete the email out of my inbox. It works. And for those of you out there that think that's a good idea, Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, Hotmail and Gmail all have calendar functions where you can set up recurrent reminders like that. Email is the best to use because you'll get the reminder anywhere you access your account, be it desktop PC, laptop, phone or tablet.
But when it comes to traditional note taking, doing it electronically just doesn't work, and there are four reasons why.
Reason 1. Automatic noise filtering
I read tons of internet articles, see tons of internet video, go through a ton of emails, see/read/view a ton of social media, and all that turns into a big mush. I interpret that mush as noise, and naturally, my brain will filter that noise right out. It's an automatic thing my brain does, and as such, using electronic means of note taking is worthless because I will totally forget any to-do list I create on the computer.
Reason 2. Too many distractions
If I'm in the middle of doing something on the computer, such as writing an article like this one, and an email comes in where I see that tiny icon at the lower right of my screen, I'm compelled to read it. I can't just ignore it. Must... read... email... And that totally breaks my train of thought.
Sure, I could turn my email client off. But then I'll forget to launch it again and miss an important message, which has happened before.
Reason 3. Stuff typed on-screen does not commit to memory
I'm referring to the memory in my head and not computer memory.
I type out things often. And because I type so much, much of what I type turns into the same noise I mentioned above. What this means is that if I used a computer or phone or tablet for note taking, I would promptly forget the note I put in there in just minutes. And notes don't mean much if they're forgotten in mere moments after you type them in.
Reason 4. You can't cross off finished tasks on an electronic screen
Yes, I know there are certain phone apps where you can take a stylus to virtually jot down notes, and probably even a few that allows you to cross out finished tasks...
...but it's not the same as actually crossing out finished tasks for real.
When you take that pen and cross out a task you finished, that feels good. There is a finality to it that electronic screens have never been able to replicate, and never will.
Write notes, and spend the cash on good pads and pens
I'm actually very picky when it comes to what I use to take notes with, and I have my reasons.
Here are those reasons.
The paper: 70-sheet college ruled memo pad
If you're thinking this is just like any other memo pad, it's not.
The best memo pads are the kind where the spiral is on the top and not the side, because it works for both right and left-handed people, and I happen to be left-handed. But even for righties, this is still the better type of pad to use because you get maximum use of every sheet.
Don't try finding these at a local pharmacy like CVS or Walgreen's, because they don't have them. They'll have memo pads, but always with the spiral on the left side.
When you want a real-deal, honest-to-goodness, proper memo pad with a top spiral, you either have to go to an office supply store to get it, or buy it online.
If you go to an office supply store like Staples to get these proper memo pads, don't be surprised if you have to search all around the store just to find them. At the Staples I go to, they are all the way in the back and really easy to miss.
The pen: Pilot Precise V7 fine point pen
Nothing will discourage you from note taking faster than a crappy pen. The world is full of crappy pens, and it's a waste of your time to even bother with them.
Pilot Precise V7 is a genuinely good pen. There are two types of V series Pilots and two types of points. You can either get the ones with the capped tops or the retractable style, commonly known as a clicky pen. I personally prefer the capped kind because it's lighter, cheaper, and because there's no chance of "play" at the writing tip.
You'll notice there's also the Pilot Precise V5. What's the difference between the V5 and V7? The V7 is fine point, and the V5 is extra-fine point. For note taking, the V7 is the better of the two because the ink comes out slightly thicker and works better on memo pad paper.
What color of ink should you get? Black. Why? Because it's easier to read. There are pilot Pilot Precise pens in assorted color packs if you want to try that out, but for note taking, the only ink color that matters is black.
When you see the cost of the Pilot Precise pens, you may get slight sticker shock. Trust me, these pens are worth the money.
How should you take down written notes?
Some people don't know how to take notes properly, so here's a quick tutorial on it.
Rule #1: One task per line
Any task you have to do should fit on one line and only one line. If it doesn't, then you need to break it up into two tasks.
Rule #2: Date your tasks
On a to-do list, you put month/day (or day/month, whichever you prefer) and then the task. The date you place is the day you wrote it and not the day it's due. So if you have a task of "buy pens," and you wrote it on January 20, the task would be written as "1/20 buy pens".
Why write it this way? So you know how old a task is just by looking at the list.
Rule #3: Make a mark in the corner for completed pages
When a page full of tasks is completed, the easiest thing to do is draw a star or filled-in box at the top right corner so you know every single thing on that page has been completed.
Rule #4: Don't tear completed pages out immediately
The general rule here is to keep completed pages in your memo pad for a few days just in case you ask yourself, "Did I remember to do [insert thing here you had to do]?" You can reference back to completed pages for that.
And yes, this means that when you cross out completed tasks, make sure what you wrote is still readable.
Rule #5: If you have to rewrite a task, also rewrite the original date
Sometimes you may have to rewrite a task if it gets shuffled back too many pages deep. That's fine, but also rewrite the original date so you're reminded of how old the task is.
Rule #6: One pad at a time
When using a memo pad for task use, you want it all in a single pad. If you juggle around multiple pads, one will get preferential treatment over another and things won't get done. Put it all in one pad.
Rule #7: Tasks only; not goals
A goal is a major life event, such as "quit smoking." A task is a simple life event, such as "get oil change for car."
Don't put goals in a memo pad, because they will take a very long time to complete.
You will get great satisfaction out of crossing out stuff on a task list, so you should put the easy stuff there. For the more difficult stuff, use a dry-erase board, or print out the goal and tape it to the wall, or use a sticky-note, or use whatever you want. But don't use the memo pad for it, because that's simple-stuff-only territory.
You don't have a bad memory
One of the first things you'll notice by handwriting notes is how much more you remember stuff. You're remembering stuff because you actually wrote it down, and the act of physically writing something down commits what you write to memory better.
It doesn't matter how busy or not-busy your schedule is. What matters is remembering to do stuff so you get things done. So unless you have an incredible memory, which most people don't, start making handwritten lists.
Would the Charvel Surfcaster be desirable as a new guitar today?
Ah, the 1990s. Kind of a weird time for guitars because it was a period where old was old and new was weird. And then Charvel comes out of seemingly nowhere with 1950s-inspired design.
1992 was the first year the Surfcaster was made (which technically means the first model year was 1992). Surfcaster was not a guitar made many moons ago that was reintroduced, especially considering Charvel guitars didn't even exist before 1974. It was a brand new design that had a lot of retro flavor going on with it. And bear in mind this was at a time well before there was even such a thing as a guitar being labeled "retro".
Original Surfcasters were made in Japan, and from day one was always considered a boutique instrument, hence the reason you basically never saw them in guitar stores.
This guitar had model years from 1992 all the way up to 2005. The traditional design has the two lipstick pickups in it, but some had 3 lipstick pickups and some had humbuckers. The rarest of the lineup is the bass, and I can totally understand why. Two lipstick pickups in a bass looked cool, but probably had a horrible tone to it. No bass player in his right mind would have given up his Fender Jazz Bass for a Charvel Surfcaster Bass.
Were there are Jackson-branded Surfcasters out there also? Yes. But the Jackson models weren't Japan-made.
Why was the Surfcaster discontinued even though it was a known boutique instrument? Fender did that. When they bought Charvel in the early 2000s, the Surfcaster was given the boot. As for why, that I don't know. Maybe it was the model name, maybe it was because it was too similar to other stuff Fender was selling, maybe some other reason. No idea.
Did Charvel really stop making the Surfcaster?
This is where things get interesting.
When you have a specific guitar model that was built for over a decade, you don't just throw it away, because by that point there are manufacturing facilities in place that can churn out these guitars easily for sale.
Currently, Charvel has a guitar model called the Desolation, with a sub-model(?) called the Skatecaster.
There are several variants of the Skatecaster, such as Skatecaster 1, Skatecaster 2, Skatecaster 3, some with "SK-1 ST" in the model name (I've no idea the significance of that), and so on. Some are hardtail as shown above, some have Floyd-Rose tremolo. Colors are red, ocean-like blue, gray and black. Some have transparent finishes, some flat, some gloss. It goes all over the place.
The Skatecaster is for all intents and purposes a Surfcaster body. The difference is that it's a solid-body, has no binding and no pick guard. But it is the same shape, more or less.
So to answer the question, yes, Charvel did truly stop making the Surfcaster. None of the Skatecasters are semi-hollow as far as I know. I've also not seen any with the cool Jackson "shark fin" inlay work on the fretboard either. And I certainly haven't seen any Skatecasters with single-coil pickups in them.
The closest you can get in a new guitar that resembles what the Surfcaster was is the current Ibanez Roadcore RC365H. This is obviously not a copy of the Surfcaster, but it has the right look and hardware where it counts. Pearloid pick guard, chrome-covered pickups, semi-hollow, nice burst finish. No vibrato system, but that's okay. This guitar is "Surfcaster-ish".
Now of course, hardcore Surfcaster fans will instantly say, "THAT'S NOT A CHARVEL!" Of course it's not. But it's one of the few guitars that's fairly close to what the Surfcaster was before being discontinued that you can buy new right now (at a nice price, I might add). It even has a proper roundy fingerboard radius of roughly 9.45 inches, as Ibanez lists the radius as 240mm.
Should the original-design Surfcaster make a return?
I think so. The time is certainly right for it. Fender certainly scored a home run by reintroducing the big, swoopy shapes of the Jazzmaster and Jaguar (I even bought a Squier Jazzmaster because of it).
If I had any say in how it should be done, I'd say offer two models. One by Charvel and one by Jackson.
The Charvel model would be USA-made, stay true to the original design and have a street price of $1,799. And believe me, there would be buyers lined up to get one at that price.
The Jackson model would be an Asian build at $399 street price. That puts it below the Ibanez Roadcore and be affordable to a lot of players looking for something cool and different. This is the guitar that should be in Guitar Center stores across America.
On the Charvel models in particular, this is a guitar style that can have total glitz and get away with it, such as having a "fireburst" boutique-style finish on it along with cream-color binding and other classy bits.
On the Jackson models, Fender can do what they do with Squier and offer some interesting alternatives. While the Charvel is 100% true to the original, the Jackson models are given latitude to try different things, such as a "blackout" version with black pearloid guard on it (which honestly would take to the Surfcaster shape quite nicely).
Do you think the Surfcaster should make a comeback? Contact Charvel and let them know you want one. Tell them you found out about the guitar here on my site, think the Surfcaster is cool and would like to see it made again.
how to get rid of the stupid splash screen in libreoffice and make the dictionary actually work
The splash screen crapola and the spellcheck are enough to drive you up a wall when using LibreOffice.
LibreOffice is, without question, great software. It's totally free, stable, and works great. Is it as good as Microsoft Office? No, but it gets the job done.
Being I write a lot as a blogger and author, and being that some who read my blog might be interested in writing themselves and opt to use LibreOffice, I figured some of you out there will find this useful.
There are two things in LO that are really stupid. The splash screen and the fact the spellcheck doesn't work 100%.
Removing the splash screen
Every time you start LibreOffice, you see a splash screen. A needless, useless splash screen that does nothing but get in your way, stays there for a moment and then goes away.
The only way to turn this off and keep it off is to manually edit one file with Notepad called soffice.ini and change one number. And wow, do you have to dig deep to get to this thing.
Its location in Windows (Windows 7, specifically) is this:
C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 4\program\soffice.ini
Edit the file and change Logo=1 to Logo=0, like this:
Save the soffice.ini file, close, then restart LibreOffice. No more stupid splash screen. Yee-haw.
You might be thinking that there must be some way to enable/disable the splash screen in LO. There isn't. Or at nowhere I could find. I could not find a simple checkbox to disable the splash, so I had to manually edit the .ini file to do it.
Thankfully, you only have to do this once, and it works in every program in the LO suite.
By the way, this also works with LibreOffice Portable. Just search for soffice.ini, edit, change the 1 to a 0, save, and launch.
Fixing the spellcheck
If you add words to the custom dictionary for spellcheck, LO keeps "forgetting" them. This is a sporadic issue where some people have this issue and some don't.
Well, I found a way to fix it.
I noticed that the LibreOffice US release version will install languages for English, French and Spanish by default, so I figured if I uninstalled LO then reinstalled it with just US English and absolutely no other language selected, the custom dictionary would work.
Just to be on the safe side, I uninstalled LO in its entirety before reinstalling. Then I performed a Custom Install.
First, under Dictionaries I made sure English was the only one selected:
Under Additional user interface languages, I purposely only chose English (United States) and deselected the UK and SA English. This wouldn't ordinarily affect the dictionary, but I did this anyway as a better-safe-than-sorry maneuver.
After I did the above, I launched LO, added in a few words, saved the document, closed LO, restarted and reopened the same doc. My custom dictionary entries worked because I didn't see the red underline squiggle lines for words I added in.
Does spellcheck work otherwise?
Yes, spellcheck works. The only problem is when you add words to the custom dictionary and LO "forgets" them. When I reinstalled LO and specifically instructed not to install any other languages but English and just one English, the custom dictionary started working like it was supposed to.
Isn't LibreOffice supposed to obey settings from Writing Aids?
This is where Writing Aids is:
To answer the question, yes, LO is supposed to obey whatever is listed in Writing Aids. But for custom dictionary entries (which would be "standard [All]",) sometimes that just doesn't work even when the list is populated.
No, I don't know why this is because I don't know the inner workings of how LO does what it does. All I do know is that purposely restricting LO to just one language makes the custom dictionary work like it's supposed to.
Something different: The tenor acoustic guitar
Take the Ibanez AVT1NT tenor acoustic guitar. Worth getting for having something different? It just might be.
Why does the tenor acoustic exist?
For those that play mandolin, ukulele or banjo, this is a type of acoustic guitar they can more easily transition to before moving up to a 6-string.
What advantage does having a tenor acoustic give a guitar player?
There are three good reasons why having a tenor acoustic can work well for a guitar player.
Reason 1. Very easy to switch to alternate tunings.
You can tune the tenor the same as the strings on a 6-string, which is D-G-B-E, or you can experiment with alternate tunings such as 5ths, which is C-G-D-A.
Because you only have 4 strings, you can change up tunings quickly and easily.
Reason 2. Holds a capo very nicely with little or no fret buzz.
Sometimes it's tough to get a capo to hold the strings on a 6-string correctly where there is no fret buzz. On a tenor acoustic, much less pressure is required to hold the strings down, hence much less buzz happens.
Reason 3. Really easy to play.
Tenor acoustic guitars are usually on the small small side, ordinarily with just 14 playable frets. And believe me, you don't need any more than 14 frets on a guitar like this. What you get works just fine and sounds great.
Any guitar player can pick up one of these and get used to it very quickly, as it is a very easy instrument to get along with.
There is also an 8-string version Luna High Tide Series 8-String Mahogany Tenor Acoustic-Electric Ukulele.
This guitar leans more towards being a ukulele, hence it's small size, but it acts like a tenor acoustic. Also it's also electrified so you can plug this one in. The price is good, too (less than the price of the Ibanez listed above if you can believe it).
The 8-string is of course more difficult to play because you're holding down double the amount of strings, so bear that in mind.
No matter which you get, if you wanted something acoustic but different where you get some interesting sounds out of it, the tenor acoustic is a good buy. Relatively cheap, easy to play, easy to switch tunings, and you basically already know how to play one if you play guitar now.