Speaking of house insurance. Simply because I do smoke they tried to increase my rate. I asked the guy why since no one ever smokes in my house, my frau forbids it, verboten. He changed it back to a non-smoking house and the rate went right back down again to where it belonged.
As a non-drinker I also got a small reduction in my car insurance.
So yes, insurance companies do discriminate against people for their vices!
Apex Pro
Re: Apex Pro
I'm sure the victims think it's discrimination, but it boils down to the essence of how insurance works in general. Premiums are based on the likelihood of a claim being made. They don't print money at the insurance company so that they rely on premiums to build a reserve for payouts. If they run out of reserves, they are out of business. Some very high priced mathematicians calculate the odds of a claim being made under given circumstances. Smokers make more claims than non-smokers. Drinkers-make more claims than non-drinkers. So it's only fair they should pay more.
But you knew that already, didn't you. LOL
But you knew that already, didn't you. LOL
Re: Apex Pro
Insurance companies have a LIMIT they will pay out. Once you hit their CAP you are no longer covered for anything.
And the CAP is not all that high either. I know because my late wife Ruth Capped out on her heath insurance. This is what drove us into the poorhouse. I never really recovered from all the bills I had to pay for her. Used up all of our savings, refinanced the house to over the max limit, sold off most of my business assets, etc. In other words all of my sources of income were sold off to pay her medical bills.
Even before her insurance capped out, they quit covering a lot of things, which is why I had to pay the hospital 26k per month. If you think about it, how long could you afford to shell out 26k per month? I managed to do so for almost four years by selling off all of my business assets. That was over a million dollars I paid to the hospital over that period of time. And we could get no help from anywhere as long as I owned a single asset. It didn't matter my house was now mortgaged for more than it was worth, or the only vehicle I had left was an old 1977 Chevy LUV.
Had it not been for an SBA loan that came through to finish the last house I had under renovation, I wouldn't have had the money it took to bury her. Fortunately I was able to sell the house and repay the SBA loan, and after she died started on another home with the funds I had left over from the sale. But then 9/11 hit and that ended any income from home sales.
This is when I had an auction and sold off everything in my house, except my clothes, a few keepsakes, and our family pictures. Other than a couple of tool boxes I kept to use to get a job after I moved south, everything else went at auction.
And the CAP is not all that high either. I know because my late wife Ruth Capped out on her heath insurance. This is what drove us into the poorhouse. I never really recovered from all the bills I had to pay for her. Used up all of our savings, refinanced the house to over the max limit, sold off most of my business assets, etc. In other words all of my sources of income were sold off to pay her medical bills.
Even before her insurance capped out, they quit covering a lot of things, which is why I had to pay the hospital 26k per month. If you think about it, how long could you afford to shell out 26k per month? I managed to do so for almost four years by selling off all of my business assets. That was over a million dollars I paid to the hospital over that period of time. And we could get no help from anywhere as long as I owned a single asset. It didn't matter my house was now mortgaged for more than it was worth, or the only vehicle I had left was an old 1977 Chevy LUV.
Had it not been for an SBA loan that came through to finish the last house I had under renovation, I wouldn't have had the money it took to bury her. Fortunately I was able to sell the house and repay the SBA loan, and after she died started on another home with the funds I had left over from the sale. But then 9/11 hit and that ended any income from home sales.
This is when I had an auction and sold off everything in my house, except my clothes, a few keepsakes, and our family pictures. Other than a couple of tool boxes I kept to use to get a job after I moved south, everything else went at auction.
Re: Apex Pro
It's true that there are caps to insurance coverage. If there were no caps their reserves would be liquidated by only a handful of people who had claims the size of yours. In many ways insurance companies operate like your own small businesses. They can only spend funds they have access to, and those funds are limited. No doubt the insurance people paid you more than you paid them in premiums, but your medical expenses went way beyond that. Nobody can really be blamed in your scenario, but I would question if the charges for medical services were being applied fairly. After your insurance coverage expired, I'm guessing you were paying retail price for the care being given. As you know that's not the price insurance companies are charged by the same hospital and doctors. That discrepancy is what seems unfair to me.
Re: Apex Pro
Yes, it is all a big con game for sure.
Even though my Drug Insurance Plan does cover most of the meds I take, I still opt to buy them myself.
Here's why: (I don't have my records up here in my office to give accurate figures, but I can get in the ballpark.)
One of my meds is $4.00 at both Walgreens and Walmart Pharmacies, without Drug Insurance.
With Insurance my cost is ZERO. However, if I buy it under my Drug Plan they are charged 47 dollars for it.
Other drugs are much higher. But by charging this much more, it pushes you into the Doughnut Hole faster.
Sadly, the $4.00 I pay will NOT APPLY as drugs I paid for to help get me out of the Doughnut Hole, only drugs purchased while in the Doughnut Hole count.
Apparently their are some Loophole Drugs that can be covered by my Supplemental Insurance Plan instead of my Drug Plan.
I have a couple of Drugs I cannot afford because they are right at 300 bucks for a 30 days supply.
I got wise to their trickery when my late wife was so ill, and needed a certain drug.
She hunted around and found another drug that was covered by the Drug Plan, but when she got it, she learned it was not billed to her Drug Plan, but to her Supplemental Insurance plan instead.
So I checked to find out why.
Some drugs are considered ELEMENTS of a Machine or Rental Device.
Although I could buy a Nebulizer machine myself for about 30 bucks, or make one from an oil-free air-pump, drug stores do not sell the misting unit by itself.
I checked on-line and found I could buy 100 of them for 66 bucks, which is 66 cents each, but if I only buy 50 they cost like 75 cents each, or 25 costs 1.00 each. No biggie their, they are reusable for a long time.
But then I would have to get the Drug for it through my Drug Plan and that way they charge a bundle for it.
However, if I am renting the Nebulizer, the rental company supplies the misting unit, hoses, cannula, AND the Drug I am on for use with it, all in a package agreement with the Supplemental Insurance company. And even better yet, rental equipment does not calculate into services that will make me reach the Cap on my insurance. Nothing done at home drives you toward the Cap, only Hospital stays and the bills associated with a hospital stay, such as doctors, surgeons, anesthesiology, lab tests, etc. If provided while in the hospital, it comes from your balance toward the Cap.
That being said, I still buy a couple of the things I use with the Nebulizer myself, because they are non-prescription items and only prescription items are included in my package. I wanted Hypertonic Saline which is covered and requires a script, so I opted to buy Isotonic Saline instead.
Ironically, when I went to buy it, I wanted to buy 3ml vials, and found 100 of them cost 18 bucks. So I got 5ml bottles instead 100 for 14 bucks including shipping. Same manufacturer, same seller.
One of the things I use it for is to make my nebulized drug go further. I don't dilute it though.
It is impossible to cause a mist unit to go completely empty due to its design.
You can tap on it when close to empty to get as much as possible out of it.
Or what I do, when it quits feeding the medicine, I add 1ml of Isotonic Saline and run it to empty, then add another 1ml of Isotonic Saline and run it empty again, tapping the heck out of it near the end to get the most possible out of it.
I also do a couple of other things to make sure I get most of the medicine, when I'm using it with medicine.
They teach you to breath in and out normally through the misting unit.
Now to gross you out, hi hi.
I breath in normally as I should, but when I breath out, instead of blowing the medicine into the air, I put my tongue over the mouthpiece and breath out through my mouth with medicine, or through my nose with only saline.
Some of the medicine still escapes the other end due to airflow from the pump running the mister.
So, I added a second extension tube to the first, so much less escapes into the air. The next time they send me another misting unit, I will add a third tube to the unit and should then not lose any medicine to the air.
No it won't cause an overdose. I'm only using 3mg in 3ml vials, prepackaged that way.
My late wife was on 9mg in 3ml using it 4 to 6 times a day. Right now I only use it once per day at night, until I run out of my stash of inhalers, then I will be using it 3 times a day.
It takes about 10 minutes for a Nebulizer treatment. An inhaler takes about 2 seconds to give the same amount of drug.
However, most of the inhalers stick to the inside of your mouth, which is why you are supposed to rinse after using them.
While with a Nebulizer you get almost all of your meds into your lungs, and at a much cheaper cost. Plus the saline helps to get the phlegm out by loosening it up considerably.
Even though my Drug Insurance Plan does cover most of the meds I take, I still opt to buy them myself.
Here's why: (I don't have my records up here in my office to give accurate figures, but I can get in the ballpark.)
One of my meds is $4.00 at both Walgreens and Walmart Pharmacies, without Drug Insurance.
With Insurance my cost is ZERO. However, if I buy it under my Drug Plan they are charged 47 dollars for it.
Other drugs are much higher. But by charging this much more, it pushes you into the Doughnut Hole faster.
Sadly, the $4.00 I pay will NOT APPLY as drugs I paid for to help get me out of the Doughnut Hole, only drugs purchased while in the Doughnut Hole count.
Apparently their are some Loophole Drugs that can be covered by my Supplemental Insurance Plan instead of my Drug Plan.
I have a couple of Drugs I cannot afford because they are right at 300 bucks for a 30 days supply.
I got wise to their trickery when my late wife was so ill, and needed a certain drug.
She hunted around and found another drug that was covered by the Drug Plan, but when she got it, she learned it was not billed to her Drug Plan, but to her Supplemental Insurance plan instead.
So I checked to find out why.
Some drugs are considered ELEMENTS of a Machine or Rental Device.
Although I could buy a Nebulizer machine myself for about 30 bucks, or make one from an oil-free air-pump, drug stores do not sell the misting unit by itself.
I checked on-line and found I could buy 100 of them for 66 bucks, which is 66 cents each, but if I only buy 50 they cost like 75 cents each, or 25 costs 1.00 each. No biggie their, they are reusable for a long time.
But then I would have to get the Drug for it through my Drug Plan and that way they charge a bundle for it.
However, if I am renting the Nebulizer, the rental company supplies the misting unit, hoses, cannula, AND the Drug I am on for use with it, all in a package agreement with the Supplemental Insurance company. And even better yet, rental equipment does not calculate into services that will make me reach the Cap on my insurance. Nothing done at home drives you toward the Cap, only Hospital stays and the bills associated with a hospital stay, such as doctors, surgeons, anesthesiology, lab tests, etc. If provided while in the hospital, it comes from your balance toward the Cap.
That being said, I still buy a couple of the things I use with the Nebulizer myself, because they are non-prescription items and only prescription items are included in my package. I wanted Hypertonic Saline which is covered and requires a script, so I opted to buy Isotonic Saline instead.
Ironically, when I went to buy it, I wanted to buy 3ml vials, and found 100 of them cost 18 bucks. So I got 5ml bottles instead 100 for 14 bucks including shipping. Same manufacturer, same seller.
One of the things I use it for is to make my nebulized drug go further. I don't dilute it though.
It is impossible to cause a mist unit to go completely empty due to its design.
You can tap on it when close to empty to get as much as possible out of it.
Or what I do, when it quits feeding the medicine, I add 1ml of Isotonic Saline and run it to empty, then add another 1ml of Isotonic Saline and run it empty again, tapping the heck out of it near the end to get the most possible out of it.
I also do a couple of other things to make sure I get most of the medicine, when I'm using it with medicine.
They teach you to breath in and out normally through the misting unit.
Now to gross you out, hi hi.
I breath in normally as I should, but when I breath out, instead of blowing the medicine into the air, I put my tongue over the mouthpiece and breath out through my mouth with medicine, or through my nose with only saline.
Some of the medicine still escapes the other end due to airflow from the pump running the mister.
So, I added a second extension tube to the first, so much less escapes into the air. The next time they send me another misting unit, I will add a third tube to the unit and should then not lose any medicine to the air.
No it won't cause an overdose. I'm only using 3mg in 3ml vials, prepackaged that way.
My late wife was on 9mg in 3ml using it 4 to 6 times a day. Right now I only use it once per day at night, until I run out of my stash of inhalers, then I will be using it 3 times a day.
It takes about 10 minutes for a Nebulizer treatment. An inhaler takes about 2 seconds to give the same amount of drug.
However, most of the inhalers stick to the inside of your mouth, which is why you are supposed to rinse after using them.
While with a Nebulizer you get almost all of your meds into your lungs, and at a much cheaper cost. Plus the saline helps to get the phlegm out by loosening it up considerably.
Apex Pro - A Follow Up
Way back at the beginning of this thread I was lamenting the problems I encountered with a fancy schmancy gamers keyboard from Steelseries. The software used to program the keyboard seemed to have failed, but the help desk determined it was the keyboard itself. Finally, after much delay, my replacement keyboard arrived directly from Tiawan (via California) yesterday. The software seems to be working so for, but then, it's been updated from the original. There still is an issue with the keyboard waking up after the computer goes into sleep mode, but at least it's not broken. The profiles change, but I can correct them which is something I could not do the first time. I replaced a keyboard from Corsair because it's keys and labeling were not suited for my fingers and mental capacity. But, the Corsair software is superior to what these guys from Steelseries came up with. Like anything else, it may just require some learning. But I'm not too confident that these Steelseries engineers know what they are doing. At least the keyboard fits my fingers and I make feuer typos now.
Re: Apex Pro
Many years ago, when I got my first Windows XP computer, although I'm not a gamer, I bought a programmable nine-button mouse to use with writing music scores. I wasn't writing songs, I was copying the notes of songs into a music score table used with a midi program to play the songs using a computer or midi players. It's just a shame after doing all those books of music into midi format, they changed how midi worked and perfectly sounding songs now sound like crapola.
However, that being said, the books I was paid to convert to midi only used a Piano and no other instruments. But they could change the instruments since those setting are not an actual part of the score itself. But some of those music scores I had to copy were quite complex.
With a regular mouse, you had to click on the particular note you needed and move it to the score, sorta like copy n paste.
But with the programmable mouse, I could copy the most used notes to a particular mouse button. I had one of the buttons set to the Bar and six of the others to notes, like 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and rest.
The midi score program automatically turned the tails the right way, but I still had to add the joiners or slurs if needed the old copy and paste way. Even so, instead of it taking a half-hour to an hour a page, I cut those times down to less than half, so was able to make enough money it was worth doing all that work.
During that era, one of the books I did as midi files ended up on over fifty websites. But sadly, only about ten of them kept the Midi Score Composed By: line which gave my name as part of their files. Many just had the midi audio without the score too. So folks didn't have the words that went along with the song if they didn't see the score. Such is life I suppose.
Oh, this was all legal by the way. Well, the scores I was hired to copy to midi anyhow, hi hi.
However, that being said, the books I was paid to convert to midi only used a Piano and no other instruments. But they could change the instruments since those setting are not an actual part of the score itself. But some of those music scores I had to copy were quite complex.
With a regular mouse, you had to click on the particular note you needed and move it to the score, sorta like copy n paste.
But with the programmable mouse, I could copy the most used notes to a particular mouse button. I had one of the buttons set to the Bar and six of the others to notes, like 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and rest.
The midi score program automatically turned the tails the right way, but I still had to add the joiners or slurs if needed the old copy and paste way. Even so, instead of it taking a half-hour to an hour a page, I cut those times down to less than half, so was able to make enough money it was worth doing all that work.
During that era, one of the books I did as midi files ended up on over fifty websites. But sadly, only about ten of them kept the Midi Score Composed By: line which gave my name as part of their files. Many just had the midi audio without the score too. So folks didn't have the words that went along with the song if they didn't see the score. Such is life I suppose.
Oh, this was all legal by the way. Well, the scores I was hired to copy to midi anyhow, hi hi.
Re: Apex Pro
One of the practical uses of these gamer keyboards is their ability to record macros. Some boards can record more than others, but they all have at least a few. Then, the mouse buttons can also be use to call up macros. I've never found a game where I need something like that, but it is possible to program a key, or key sequence, to call up a program and set it to an initial state. This could be handy when working with spreadsheets or databases, for example. The Corsair keyboard's software, the one I replaced, could also manipulate things on the motherboard I have. It can monitor temperature and fan speed and display it on a control panel of sorts. Limits can be programmed so that the overclocking can be adjusted dynamically should things get too hot. It's all pretty fancy stuff.
The Steelseries keyboard has the big advantage of programable key response. The trip point for the key action can be adjusted in ten steps so that barely touching a key will trigger it, or it can be set to push all the way down before it triggers. I found this to be marvelous given I'm a touch typist and tend to keep my fingers on the home row all the time. Those keys now require nearly a full travel to trigger while the rows above and below barely need to be touched. It has dramatically lowered the incidence of typos for me. The spacing of these keys suits my fingers well. I thought at one time the spacing between keys was standard, but apparently not. The Corsair keys are too close together for my finger work and not comfortable at all to use. The lighting can also behelpful. All the special function keys, for example are one color on my default layout, the number keypad another color, and the alpha keys a third color. When I press a key, the color changes and persists briefly so that I can tell which key I actually pressed. This is an unexpected benefit for me when I enter passwords that don't seem to work. LOL
The Steelseries keyboard has the big advantage of programable key response. The trip point for the key action can be adjusted in ten steps so that barely touching a key will trigger it, or it can be set to push all the way down before it triggers. I found this to be marvelous given I'm a touch typist and tend to keep my fingers on the home row all the time. Those keys now require nearly a full travel to trigger while the rows above and below barely need to be touched. It has dramatically lowered the incidence of typos for me. The spacing of these keys suits my fingers well. I thought at one time the spacing between keys was standard, but apparently not. The Corsair keys are too close together for my finger work and not comfortable at all to use. The lighting can also behelpful. All the special function keys, for example are one color on my default layout, the number keypad another color, and the alpha keys a third color. When I press a key, the color changes and persists briefly so that I can tell which key I actually pressed. This is an unexpected benefit for me when I enter passwords that don't seem to work. LOL
Re: Apex Pro
That is sorta the reason I like my particular keyboards, the home row is weighted a little heavier than the rest of the keys.
I wish they didn't quit making this model. However, I still have one more to wear out, so it might outlast me, hi hi.
At writing meetings, I've seen a couple of folks who don't have meeces on their computers.
They have a little pad that looks like it could be a graphics pad, but they are using it like a mouse.
I saw one who used a stylus, and another who just used their finger.
I guess perhaps it works more or less like the touch pad on the laptop but maybe easier.
From what I could see, they had them set-up differently.
On one, when he touched the stylus to the screen it would jump to that location on the monitor.
But on the other, he had to move his finger around like you would a normal mouse.
Perhaps it was just individual settings?
I wish they didn't quit making this model. However, I still have one more to wear out, so it might outlast me, hi hi.
At writing meetings, I've seen a couple of folks who don't have meeces on their computers.
They have a little pad that looks like it could be a graphics pad, but they are using it like a mouse.
I saw one who used a stylus, and another who just used their finger.
I guess perhaps it works more or less like the touch pad on the laptop but maybe easier.
From what I could see, they had them set-up differently.
On one, when he touched the stylus to the screen it would jump to that location on the monitor.
But on the other, he had to move his finger around like you would a normal mouse.
Perhaps it was just individual settings?
Re: Apex Pro
There are a variety of devices to choose for input on my computers. I'm guessing Linux has something similar somewhere in its settings. One device whose drivers always seem to get installed in spite of my wishes is that stylus/pad gizmo. Apparently it's popular in certain crowds given that there is software which will translate script into digital text. I'm thinking my clever phone can do something equivilant without the need to be connected to a laptop; it is a computer of it's own after all.
This keyboard with the adjustable sensitivity isn't what I thought it would be. First of all the switches are not Cherry MX, but the claim is that they will outlast the typical Cherry switch. From what I can tell Cherry has something like a reed inside the switch that clicks to make a closure. The design of that reed switch determins how much pressure you need to put on the switch for it to engage. The different pressures are color coded, and brown was my favorite. All the keys on a Cherry keyboard had the same sensitivity. The keys on this Steelseries only have a spring inside the switches. From what I can tell there are no other mechanical parts. The sensitivity is all done by programming the magnetic properties of each individual key switch. The beauty of this approach is that each key can have a different setting if that's what I want. There isn't much resistance when pressing the keys so that it feels like a lighter touch keyboard. They claim this allows you to type faster because the keys respond quicker. Could be. Aside from the Neanderthal who wrote the GUI for programming the keyboard, I don't see any downsides. Yet.
This keyboard with the adjustable sensitivity isn't what I thought it would be. First of all the switches are not Cherry MX, but the claim is that they will outlast the typical Cherry switch. From what I can tell Cherry has something like a reed inside the switch that clicks to make a closure. The design of that reed switch determins how much pressure you need to put on the switch for it to engage. The different pressures are color coded, and brown was my favorite. All the keys on a Cherry keyboard had the same sensitivity. The keys on this Steelseries only have a spring inside the switches. From what I can tell there are no other mechanical parts. The sensitivity is all done by programming the magnetic properties of each individual key switch. The beauty of this approach is that each key can have a different setting if that's what I want. There isn't much resistance when pressing the keys so that it feels like a lighter touch keyboard. They claim this allows you to type faster because the keys respond quicker. Could be. Aside from the Neanderthal who wrote the GUI for programming the keyboard, I don't see any downsides. Yet.
Re: Apex Pro
Many moons ago, when keyboards were HUGE, although the keys were in the same places, I had one heavy keyboard that although for use with a computer, it dang near felt like a mechanical keyboard, except the keys didn't have long travel a manual typewriter had, it was more like an IBM selectric the way it felt.
One thing I discovered about that keyboard, which I probably would have known if I read the book that came with it, hi hi. Was if you lift the cap off the key, you could get to a set screw on each to make the key weight heavier or lighter. Turning the screw only raised or lowered the ring plate the spring sat on.
This was the same keyboard that had replaceable keys too, although I never replaced one, it didn't look all that easy to do.
What was bad about these early keyboards is they did not have a plastic film under the keys and over the circuit boards like nearly all keyboards have today to keep dirt out of them. Spill anything on them and they fry, hi hi.
My son gave me a keyboard for Christmas one year that had a built in display for the calculator, and another built in display at the top, but none of my computers at the time had the things you could display in that top display. So I just set it to show the keys I was typing, which I could also log. If you made a typo and hit the backspace key, it showed you pressed the backspace key and kept a running log, it didn't backspace over the letters to correct them. It just showed each keystroke, including the shift key and space bar, heck even the arrow keys. It seems like you could save what it was doing as a log file, but I never did that. It did last a long time before I switched to something else. It had the big round keyboard plug before PS2 came out.
One thing I discovered about that keyboard, which I probably would have known if I read the book that came with it, hi hi. Was if you lift the cap off the key, you could get to a set screw on each to make the key weight heavier or lighter. Turning the screw only raised or lowered the ring plate the spring sat on.
This was the same keyboard that had replaceable keys too, although I never replaced one, it didn't look all that easy to do.
What was bad about these early keyboards is they did not have a plastic film under the keys and over the circuit boards like nearly all keyboards have today to keep dirt out of them. Spill anything on them and they fry, hi hi.
My son gave me a keyboard for Christmas one year that had a built in display for the calculator, and another built in display at the top, but none of my computers at the time had the things you could display in that top display. So I just set it to show the keys I was typing, which I could also log. If you made a typo and hit the backspace key, it showed you pressed the backspace key and kept a running log, it didn't backspace over the letters to correct them. It just showed each keystroke, including the shift key and space bar, heck even the arrow keys. It seems like you could save what it was doing as a log file, but I never did that. It did last a long time before I switched to something else. It had the big round keyboard plug before PS2 came out.
Re: Apex Pro
There is a company called Das Keyboard which is known for it's heavy duty mechanical keyboards. Next time around I will give them some serious thought, but they are even more expensive than these goofy gamer keyboards I've been using lately. I'm not certain they still do it, but to add some weight to the keyboard a thick metal plate was part of the bottom panel. It served no other purpose than to make it difficult to move the keyboard around the desktop. I love the feel of mechanical keys, but I am now getting used to the light touch available with full travel keys. Something about that combination that makes my fingers want to move faster. LOL
Re: Apex Pro
I agree, I still have a Smith Corona portable typewriter. I always kept it around for filling out forms. Also to fill out Rolodex cards and 3x5 cards. Yes I still have several Rolodex files, hi hi.
And you can laugh at this too, I still use Tickler Files! They don't get as much use as they used to.
But some things just can't be done on a computer, without it either being more work, or you still need to have the originals available each time you need to use them.
For example: I have four shelves filled with binders of sheet music. On the eye height shelf is eight Rolodex files connected together side by side. When someone wants a particular song, they can look it up by song title, first line of the song, first line of the chorus, or by the original recording artist. I don't have by who wrote the songs though. It would be a pain to have to go to a computer to look up what binder and page number the song is in, then go back to the sheet music racks. Very handy having a card catalog right there with them.
I keep a file box of greeting cards on hand, left over from when I used them for business purposes. It is organized by birthdays, anniversaries, get well, and congratulations. Then in the tickler file, a week ahead of someones birthday is the card we selected for them. Plus I keep contracts for certain things a week or month ahead of when they expire, so I remember to cancel before they automatically renew, or if I have to renew them manually.
Everything with a date is also saved on my computer calendar as well, along with the things I don't need paperwork for.
And you can laugh at this too, I still use Tickler Files! They don't get as much use as they used to.
But some things just can't be done on a computer, without it either being more work, or you still need to have the originals available each time you need to use them.
For example: I have four shelves filled with binders of sheet music. On the eye height shelf is eight Rolodex files connected together side by side. When someone wants a particular song, they can look it up by song title, first line of the song, first line of the chorus, or by the original recording artist. I don't have by who wrote the songs though. It would be a pain to have to go to a computer to look up what binder and page number the song is in, then go back to the sheet music racks. Very handy having a card catalog right there with them.
I keep a file box of greeting cards on hand, left over from when I used them for business purposes. It is organized by birthdays, anniversaries, get well, and congratulations. Then in the tickler file, a week ahead of someones birthday is the card we selected for them. Plus I keep contracts for certain things a week or month ahead of when they expire, so I remember to cancel before they automatically renew, or if I have to renew them manually.
Everything with a date is also saved on my computer calendar as well, along with the things I don't need paperwork for.
Re: Apex Pro
Rolodex? Library card catalogs? Are those things still around? 
You have a special case there with your music. It's not just a data bank for music; it's a museum. All that information you mention can be had by typing in a phrase to Google search. The only thing not easily obtained through that method is the sheet music. I'd bet even that can be had on the Internet if one knew where to look for it. Tickler Files kind of make sense, but then there are some pretty fancy time management programs that can do the same thing. Of course, if you need the original, there is no replacement for that. I have concluded several business deals, including the sale of my house, without hand signing every legal document but the MLS contract. Everything can be done electronically now and days. Unfortunately, not every business is prepared to go that route. Yet.
You have a special case there with your music. It's not just a data bank for music; it's a museum. All that information you mention can be had by typing in a phrase to Google search. The only thing not easily obtained through that method is the sheet music. I'd bet even that can be had on the Internet if one knew where to look for it. Tickler Files kind of make sense, but then there are some pretty fancy time management programs that can do the same thing. Of course, if you need the original, there is no replacement for that. I have concluded several business deals, including the sale of my house, without hand signing every legal document but the MLS contract. Everything can be done electronically now and days. Unfortunately, not every business is prepared to go that route. Yet.
Re: Apex Pro
Yes Sir, Rolodex is still popular, in both the small and larger sizes. Almost all office supply stores still sell Rolodex cards, heck so does Walmart come to think of it.
Putting sheet music published after 1923 on the internet for downloads is ILLEGAL due to Copyright. And in some cases post-1923 during the extension period copyrights were extended for 95 years and didn't expire until 2018. But anything published after 1924 is still under copyright.
I thought of buying an 11x17 scanner just to copy all of the sheet music I have and make it available on-line, but when I went to check on the getting the licenses required, it wasn't as simple as owning a jukebox or playing from the sheet music in public.
If you own a jukebox and place it in a public place where anyone can play the music, whether for free or by paying for each song, back in the 1980's when I did have some jukes out, I had to pay $75.00 for a vending license, plus an additional $75.00 for the Royalties Payments to the Wholesale Record distributor.
When I played music professionally, I had to pay ASCAP $95.00 per year and BMI $125.00 per year to only play occasionally in a privately owned bar. If I wanted to play in a theater where there would be over 100 patrons, the fee shot up exponentially. I know to play to a crowd of 250 people, ASCAP alone was like $1,800.00, don't know about BMI.
I do know Radio Stations did not have to pay Royalties to the Recording Artist of songs, however they did have to pay the Songwriters their Royalties. This changed a while back and now they must pay ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC.
It is easy to get a license to play music from sheet music, play records, etc. for a profit.
But nearly impossible to get licenses to sell sheet music. There's no one fee to an organization. You have to strike a deal with each sheet music publisher, and only for out of print songs. When I checked into this, the cost was more than prohibitive, plus on top of the fee they also got 45% of the sale price. Way too much bookwork to mess with.
That being said, I have a few FakeBooks I bought when I was playing. Some FakeBooks are legal, some are not, it depends who made them. Music Publishers started selling some of their old songs and calling them FakeBooks, but they are allowed to do this, since they own the music scores.
Sadly, a couple of the FakeBooks I bought from music stores I later discovered were illegal copies of a legal copy of the same book.
Since I only play from sheet music, not by ear, except for some songs I memorized, I decided to write my own scores of the songs, not to sell of course, but so I had a copy I created myself to play from, which at the time was legal, since I was paying my royalties fees to play the song. The caveat is I had to own an original legal copy of the song to show if I was ever asked to show it. But you could also get buy saying you play it from memory or by ear, so the copy you made is only a memory jogger and not necessarily a duplicate of an original.
In any case, in all the years I played music, since I had both of my licenses and royalty fee paid cards, I was never questioned about my actual sheet music sources.
Putting sheet music published after 1923 on the internet for downloads is ILLEGAL due to Copyright. And in some cases post-1923 during the extension period copyrights were extended for 95 years and didn't expire until 2018. But anything published after 1924 is still under copyright.
I thought of buying an 11x17 scanner just to copy all of the sheet music I have and make it available on-line, but when I went to check on the getting the licenses required, it wasn't as simple as owning a jukebox or playing from the sheet music in public.
If you own a jukebox and place it in a public place where anyone can play the music, whether for free or by paying for each song, back in the 1980's when I did have some jukes out, I had to pay $75.00 for a vending license, plus an additional $75.00 for the Royalties Payments to the Wholesale Record distributor.
When I played music professionally, I had to pay ASCAP $95.00 per year and BMI $125.00 per year to only play occasionally in a privately owned bar. If I wanted to play in a theater where there would be over 100 patrons, the fee shot up exponentially. I know to play to a crowd of 250 people, ASCAP alone was like $1,800.00, don't know about BMI.
I do know Radio Stations did not have to pay Royalties to the Recording Artist of songs, however they did have to pay the Songwriters their Royalties. This changed a while back and now they must pay ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC.
It is easy to get a license to play music from sheet music, play records, etc. for a profit.
But nearly impossible to get licenses to sell sheet music. There's no one fee to an organization. You have to strike a deal with each sheet music publisher, and only for out of print songs. When I checked into this, the cost was more than prohibitive, plus on top of the fee they also got 45% of the sale price. Way too much bookwork to mess with.
That being said, I have a few FakeBooks I bought when I was playing. Some FakeBooks are legal, some are not, it depends who made them. Music Publishers started selling some of their old songs and calling them FakeBooks, but they are allowed to do this, since they own the music scores.
Sadly, a couple of the FakeBooks I bought from music stores I later discovered were illegal copies of a legal copy of the same book.
Since I only play from sheet music, not by ear, except for some songs I memorized, I decided to write my own scores of the songs, not to sell of course, but so I had a copy I created myself to play from, which at the time was legal, since I was paying my royalties fees to play the song. The caveat is I had to own an original legal copy of the song to show if I was ever asked to show it. But you could also get buy saying you play it from memory or by ear, so the copy you made is only a memory jogger and not necessarily a duplicate of an original.
In any case, in all the years I played music, since I had both of my licenses and royalty fee paid cards, I was never questioned about my actual sheet music sources.
Re: Apex Pro
Music copyrights is one big mess. It's amazing anybody gets paid at all with all the hands that are in the mix. One of the web sites I go only allows playing music tracks if two or more people are listening. Individual listening comes under a different license. What kind of Tom Foolery is that? There was a big commotion with DRM and for a while it seemed as if you could not listen to music unless it was from an encoded disc. This is when streaming began to become popular and the music mafia didn't quite know how to handle it. I guess it's all settled now because YouTube joined the mafia.
I guess it all boils down to intellectual property ownership, which does not seem to be fully worked out yet this late in time. The same kind of problems crop up in software that you see in the music world. The difference is that bit heads don't whine and moan about it as much as musical artists. I know they all deserve to be paid for their talents, but there has to be a cleaner way to do it.
I guess it all boils down to intellectual property ownership, which does not seem to be fully worked out yet this late in time. The same kind of problems crop up in software that you see in the music world. The difference is that bit heads don't whine and moan about it as much as musical artists. I know they all deserve to be paid for their talents, but there has to be a cleaner way to do it.
Re: Apex Pro
The reason broadcast stations used to not have to pay royalties on the music being played, but the did only to the songwriters, was because it was considered FREE ADVERTISING for the music artist to sell more records.
Since nobody buys records anymore, and most music is downloaded from on-line, the change had to be made to ensure the artists got their royalties, not just the songwriters.
On most music scores, it shows who wrote the lyrics, and who wrote the melody. Only reprints of the scores show what orchestra or singer made it popular.
And here is the catch broadcast stations got around for years.
The Orchestra Did NOT write the music, the singer Did NOT write the lyrics, and they had to get permission from both parties in order to play the music, sing the song lyrics, and record it on vinyl for resale, ergo the recording itself could not be copyrighted.
This is why the radio stations playing records had to pay the songwriters, but not the groups who recorded the songs, they got their revenues from public performances and record sales.
This is one reason you could find recordings of songs done by various artists, and they were all legal.
Everything changed after SESAC was formed.
Now to make things easier for everyone, to play music to the public, you simply pay a fee to PROs (Performing Rights Organizations), and they in turn pass the money on to all the people the royalties go to. And yes, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC also get a cut of what is collected by the PROs.
If I was still playing music, a lot has changed their too, you no longer need a license to play to less than 500 people indoors, such as a bar or restaurant, or small nightclub. But you do have to pay the PROs, which is easier than keeping track of how many ASCAP or BMI songs you played, by paying PROs you can play all songs, even European SESAC songs.
Ironically, SESAC has offices here in Nashville, TN.
It sounds like you do not understand FOSS.
There is plenty of money to be made in FOSS software. Heck, look at Oracle as an example. They make 37 to 38 million dollars per year, and pay their programmers around 35 to 55k per year, and up.
Even hobbyist programmers who write valuable software and give it away for free, still make money from donations, and/or they sell parts of their code to other programmers or companies on a royalties type basis.
Most FOSS software comes from companies who are also selling proprietary software products. In many cases, the software they sell is download for free to try it out before you buy it. Which for Linux users basically means free, unless you make a donation to them, but Android, MAC, and Windows users usually have to cough up the selling price.
The reason for this is nothing is hidden from users in Linux. While on Windows for example, a program when installed is spread out all over the computers system files, and often the free use timer is hidden in four or more places in hidden files you would never be able to find. Even if you uninstall the program, all of these hidden files remain behind. That is why you cannot download a new copy next year and give it another free trial, it knows where it hid the timer files, hi hi.
Now for Linux, even though we know where the file is, in rare cases it is encoded in such a way a user would not know what to change to get the program back to working again, unless perhaps they made a copy of the file and compared it with a new copy each and every time they used the program. Then perhaps you could see what changed and restore the change back to the original version. But then there are also checksums that could defeat that too.
Usually it is not worth the trouble, because many Linux users do donate to the programmers of the programs they use most. Sometimes more than once.
Since nobody buys records anymore, and most music is downloaded from on-line, the change had to be made to ensure the artists got their royalties, not just the songwriters.
On most music scores, it shows who wrote the lyrics, and who wrote the melody. Only reprints of the scores show what orchestra or singer made it popular.
And here is the catch broadcast stations got around for years.
The Orchestra Did NOT write the music, the singer Did NOT write the lyrics, and they had to get permission from both parties in order to play the music, sing the song lyrics, and record it on vinyl for resale, ergo the recording itself could not be copyrighted.
This is why the radio stations playing records had to pay the songwriters, but not the groups who recorded the songs, they got their revenues from public performances and record sales.
This is one reason you could find recordings of songs done by various artists, and they were all legal.
Everything changed after SESAC was formed.
Now to make things easier for everyone, to play music to the public, you simply pay a fee to PROs (Performing Rights Organizations), and they in turn pass the money on to all the people the royalties go to. And yes, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC also get a cut of what is collected by the PROs.
If I was still playing music, a lot has changed their too, you no longer need a license to play to less than 500 people indoors, such as a bar or restaurant, or small nightclub. But you do have to pay the PROs, which is easier than keeping track of how many ASCAP or BMI songs you played, by paying PROs you can play all songs, even European SESAC songs.
Ironically, SESAC has offices here in Nashville, TN.
It sounds like you do not understand FOSS.
There is plenty of money to be made in FOSS software. Heck, look at Oracle as an example. They make 37 to 38 million dollars per year, and pay their programmers around 35 to 55k per year, and up.
Even hobbyist programmers who write valuable software and give it away for free, still make money from donations, and/or they sell parts of their code to other programmers or companies on a royalties type basis.
Most FOSS software comes from companies who are also selling proprietary software products. In many cases, the software they sell is download for free to try it out before you buy it. Which for Linux users basically means free, unless you make a donation to them, but Android, MAC, and Windows users usually have to cough up the selling price.
The reason for this is nothing is hidden from users in Linux. While on Windows for example, a program when installed is spread out all over the computers system files, and often the free use timer is hidden in four or more places in hidden files you would never be able to find. Even if you uninstall the program, all of these hidden files remain behind. That is why you cannot download a new copy next year and give it another free trial, it knows where it hid the timer files, hi hi.
Now for Linux, even though we know where the file is, in rare cases it is encoded in such a way a user would not know what to change to get the program back to working again, unless perhaps they made a copy of the file and compared it with a new copy each and every time they used the program. Then perhaps you could see what changed and restore the change back to the original version. But then there are also checksums that could defeat that too.
Usually it is not worth the trouble, because many Linux users do donate to the programmers of the programs they use most. Sometimes more than once.
Re: Apex Pro
You might be correct there. My understanding is that FOSS = "Free and Open Source Software" I'm having difficulty understanding what is meant by Free.It sounds like you do not understand FOSS.
There is plenty of money to be made in FOSS software. Heck, look at Oracle as an example. They make 37 to 38 million dollars per year, and pay their programmers around 35 to 55k per year, and up.
No need to explain, really. Until the day comes when corporations are government controlled and no longer allowed to maximize their profits, the profiteers will dominate. The Free part of FOSS reminds me of those old hippie days when "free" love was yours for the taking. Yeah, right. Free.
Re: Apex Pro
FOSS means the SOURCE CODE is OPEN and FREE to anyone who wants it.
Most folks, including me, do not know how to Compile the Source Code for a particular type of machine and OS.
If you wanted, you could take any FOSS program and Compile it to work on a Windows, MAC, or most other computers.
Folks have done this with our better programs, like OpenOffice LibreOffice GIMP and several others.
As far as Linux users go, other Linux users have compiled the Source Code into simpler packages, like DEB or RPM, so we can easily install them at the touch of a button.
In some cases FOSS is teaser program, although it is a fully functional program, it may not have some of the optional bells and whistles their proprietary programs offer. Which is one of the reasons I brought up Oracle. They offer several FOSS programs, but for many of those programs, if you want to be able to write programs for them, then you need to buy the programs for doing that. But the people who use your programs get the program it works on for free, but also may have to pay for the programs you wrote for it.
Take RedHat for instance, RedHat is a proprietary program, but you can get CentOS, which is the FOSS version of RedHat.
CentOS does not come with support, unless you want to pay for support, same with Ubuntu, it is free, but Ubuntu support will cost you.
Nevertheless, most of the FOSS programs out there were written by large companies with tons of other proprietary software they sell. Others like the phpBB you use is well funded, and gets some revenues through advertising.
Most folks, including me, do not know how to Compile the Source Code for a particular type of machine and OS.
If you wanted, you could take any FOSS program and Compile it to work on a Windows, MAC, or most other computers.
Folks have done this with our better programs, like OpenOffice LibreOffice GIMP and several others.
As far as Linux users go, other Linux users have compiled the Source Code into simpler packages, like DEB or RPM, so we can easily install them at the touch of a button.
In some cases FOSS is teaser program, although it is a fully functional program, it may not have some of the optional bells and whistles their proprietary programs offer. Which is one of the reasons I brought up Oracle. They offer several FOSS programs, but for many of those programs, if you want to be able to write programs for them, then you need to buy the programs for doing that. But the people who use your programs get the program it works on for free, but also may have to pay for the programs you wrote for it.
Take RedHat for instance, RedHat is a proprietary program, but you can get CentOS, which is the FOSS version of RedHat.
CentOS does not come with support, unless you want to pay for support, same with Ubuntu, it is free, but Ubuntu support will cost you.
Nevertheless, most of the FOSS programs out there were written by large companies with tons of other proprietary software they sell. Others like the phpBB you use is well funded, and gets some revenues through advertising.
Re: Apex Pro
Yeah, well ...
there are pros and cons for both the FOSS and the proprietary approach to software and hardware management. I've had a good amount of exposure to both and am currently favoring proprietary over FOSS. I like the reliability and support that comes from a company that has a stake in what they are vending. Since FOSS by definition is free, it's hard to find the value of why people continue to use and develop it.
there are pros and cons for both the FOSS and the proprietary approach to software and hardware management. I've had a good amount of exposure to both and am currently favoring proprietary over FOSS. I like the reliability and support that comes from a company that has a stake in what they are vending. Since FOSS by definition is free, it's hard to find the value of why people continue to use and develop it.