Good Question... answer inside.. sm

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Good post - good thinking but really, as MTs, we already know we cannot *assume* anything - even on a bulletin board. There are posters who annoy me too and those posters drive away the informative posters which is terribly unfortunate because many of them (the informative posters) are full of GREAT information that they are willing to share. I hate them being driven away by a couple of handfuls of perpetrators.

You cannot assume everyone is that poster - you can think it's them but there's no proof, really, when you think about it. Only the moderators/administrator know who is who on the boards. If things get nasty, they remove all the nasty threads.

GMTA - remember this - great minds think alike - we don't need to lower ourselves to the perps (lack of) standards.

John Faherty
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 2, 2006 12:00 AM

The rest of the country wakes up this morning asking one simple question: What time is it?

But not here. In Arizona we know exactly time it is. It's standard time, and it never changes.

The fact that we sit in blissful time innocence while the rest of the country tries to figure out how to adjust the clock on their car radio and wonders if TiVo will make the necessary adjustments is not an important thing, but it does say a lot about who we are.

We are independent. We have a contrarian's streak, and if something doesn't make sense, we don't want to do it.

And now we are alone in the continental U.S. This morning some counties in Indiana switched to daylight-saving time, leaving just Arizona and Hawaii.

Of course, people who have been here long enough know Arizona has been on daylight-saving time before.

The whole country went on DST during both World Wars to save energy.

After 1945 however, states and communities across the country were allowed to stay on DST or opt out. Arizona went off right away.

The nation became a time puzzle as states and communities were able to pick if, and even when, they would switch their clocks.

It was a mess best illustrated by the fact that the Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St. Paul - sometimes were an hour apart.

Finally, in 1967 the Uniform Time Act was instituted, putting the entire country on daylight-saving time.

Everybody had to do it for one year, and then states could opt out if they wanted to.

Farmers nationwide complained vehemently but nearly every state just stayed with the status quo.

But not Arizona.

It didn't make sense to people here. We had enough sunshine and didn't need to "save" any.

Besides, the sun stayed out so late here during the summer that if we set our clocks ahead by an hour it would be almost 10 p.m. by the time the sun set in June and July.

The owners of drive-in theaters complained vehemently. This was nearly 40 years ago and drive-ins actually had some juice.

So in March 1968, the state went standard and stayed there.

Which means people here will be getting phone calls for the next couple of weeks asking, "What time is it there?"

But we don't care.

We never saw a need to change our clocks and switch our watches, so we won't do it.

Before we get too smug though, we need to remember there was a time when our independence put us in an awkward time frame.

For a while people living in the Territory of Arizona actually switched to something called "Phoenix Time."

There was a long-running debate about whether Arizona was more closely affiliated with California and the West, or Colorado and the Santa Fe Railroad in New Mexico.

A now-laughable compromise was reached. "Phoenix Time" split the difference, putting us half an hour after Pacific Time and half an hour before Mountain Time.

It was dropped in 1910, and now we just set our clocks and let the world move around us.

Hi everyone. I have a need for some headphones with great sound. Years ago at Radio Shack for approximately $50.00 you could get the best headphones, like the CIA uses for listening I think :) The sound was fantastic and far better than our MT headphones.

Well, now I have an account with very unclear, low volume. I just need better sound coming to the ears. Like in the olden days when I just typed because I could actually hear what they were saying!

If anyone has any great headphones, that minimize listening time and maximize typing time, please post or email me. I left my email address, just click the link to email. Thanks SOOOOOO much. Thanks. Really. Thanks.

Yes, of course I'm half afraid if I leave him I won't find someone else and half afraid that I will!! I'm old enough and had enough good and bad times with men that I really don't think it would be the end of the world if I lived the rest of my life alone. It's maybe what I would not choose but it might have some positives in the long run. At least that's what I tell myself when I'm feeling good, during the middle of the night is another story....

Break-ups are tough. How do you stay on course. You get lonely, you miss him, you doubt your judgment, you want to try again, you tell yourself maybe you were too hard on him......

I think I should go to a counselor, it's just that it's quite expensive and as I said, I'll be paying for it out of pocket. I think they will tell me pretty much what you have.

It sounds like things have worked out for you. I thank you for your insight and help.

but again, you should go for it. You might love the challenge and have a really great team that will help you not have to roast over the flames. Its always possible!

Godspeed my friend, do it if you want to. It really might be the best thing you ever did! Or not, but either way, you will know for sure!

leaving off the "jerk" comment, and recommend that people contact the MQ office they are affiliated with to see what that particular office wants them to do.

When I need to enter a NEW HEADING, I type it in, then it brings up a new box that says "type in new heading"...I finish typing it, hit OK or whatever, and it puts the new heading in my report.

BUT...it doesn't KEEP The new heading! ARG! It stays on the drop down list of headings for THAT REPORT ONLY but then when I do a new report, the new heading never shows up.

Does your mortgage company - the telephone company - the phone company - the cable company, etc. discount your bill if you pay on time or do they add a late fee if they don't receive your payment on time?

I don't agree you should reward a company to do something they should normally do - something that's considered a basic in good business - paying on time.

I am currently researching keyboards, too. I got an Ergo Flex something. It was three separate units mounted on a metal base. I THOUGHT I would be able to take units off base and put back on if I wanted but once those things are off, they are off for good. It didn't matter though. I had my brother rig up a dowel for each arm chair and then fix the keyboard pieces onto those dowels. Then I ace wrapped dowels to arms ( and that was much steadier than I expected) and off I went. The problem was the units were fixed on the end of the dowels and they need to be on a swivel of some sort to allow for fine tuning the positioning. Also, the units are a faily smallish keyboard, smaller than what I am using and that was an issue. I also found that kicked back in the chair and comfy, I was almost too comfy. It seemed to slow me down. True, all of these things alone wiill slow you down, but I think even with practice, I wouldn't be as fast. I finally put them away as it was taking up alot of time and line count.

Now for the second issue. As far as keyboards that separate completely or are connected at the top. If you have a bit of a protruberant belly (as my doctor so gently puts it, lol) as I do, the kind that separate completely would be better. Also, I think being able to have the units at shoulder width would be better. I am currently using a Gold Touch which I love because it does separate an okay amount for me and like that it tents up, keeping my hands in a more neutral, hand-shake position. I think a big comfort issue is having your hands in a hand-shake position as opposed to having to turn them flat down as for a flat keyboard.

If transcription is sent to the Phillippines (and yes it goes there too) at 6 cents/line (which is what I was quoted to have them do my work - though I won't send it to them - I was just curious about what they charge), and they have 3-tiers of editing; as an MTSO I get 12 cents/line, I would stand to profit 6 cents/line. Compare that rate to the rate MTs expect to get of 10-11 cents/line, and there is your answer. No matter who does the work (US versus offshore) MTSOs still need to have editing, right? So why not pay for the line rate as cheap as you can since the work has to be edited whether US or offshore MTs transcribe it? As a small MTSO, all the editing is done by me as nothing gets to my client without going through me first, so there would be my profit. I think these companies also truly believe that eventually India and Philippines will get MT down...makes you wonder, huh? Large Nationals are probably only having to pay 3-4 cents/line for offshore work, and they pay editors 3-4 cents/line, and suppose they are making at least 12 cents/line on their accounts (I expect they get more than that though), there is still a profit for them of 4-6 cents/line. It is a heck of a lot cheaper for them to outsource offshore than to pay US MTs 9-10-11 cents/line which is what we are worth, right?