5.21.2007

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO.



There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST
Subject: Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND
Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!"

THIRD
Subject: Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
And Finally...

FIFTH Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now. This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.

From David Emery,
Your Guide to Urban Legends and Folklore.

5.08.2007

My Venture Into The Classical Guitar...


My Classical Acoustic/Electric Guitar - Takamine EC128

The three on going chord progression you hear on "...And Vampires Made Made Love" was recorded with this guitar. It's gotta be those nylon strings.

Not many people know this but during my early years of playing guitar I studied classical music. Way before the shred/rock and now blues thing, it's been about a good twenty years. Every now and then I'll play a few classical pieces that I manage keep with me and memorized. Classical music has always remained with me and it's a very soothing feeling to play "Greensleeves" or "Minuet" which is not a common number for me to play or practice when I pickup a guitar.

But the hardest for me was to re-learn to read music were it made musically sense and it took me every bit of a week. I'm still nowhere near to considered myself a sight reader. I still stumble and pull my hair on almost every classical number I try to play. I won't ever be a Andres Segovia, or a Flamenco master, Paco De Lucia and I'm not trying to be either. But I love the disciplined it brings, which is a total opposite of what I usually do. So with that being said, meet the other side of my playing that I really enjoy venturing into.

I play easy compositions. Some with allot of confidence and some without...lol Either way it's all good and classical guitar players out there... Try not to be too hard on me... I'm still a novice classical guitarist that will never claim to be a virtuoso and plus the blues still rules majority of my heart. ~JCM

Here are some simple compositions that I can read/play and enjoy.

"Greensleeves" (Anonymous 16th Century)
"Minute" J.S. Bach - (1685 - 1750)
"Andante II" Ferdinando Sor - (1778 - 1839)
"Minute" G.P. Telemann - (1681 - 1767)
"Rondo" Jean Phillippe Rameau - (1683 - 1764)
"Allegretto II" Ferdinando Sor - (1778 - 1839)
"Adagio in E Minor" Dionisio Aguado (1789 - 1849)
"Waltz" Ferdinand Carulli (1770 - 1841)
"Andantino" Matteo Carassi (1732 - 1853)