Then all of a sudden everything makes sense. This intermittent pitch recognition thing. I've got tinnitus from a viral infection about ten years ago. the ringing varies in volume, usually under stress but it's always there. Most of the time it's soft and I've just filtered it out of my brain. It's almost precisely an E flat. That's so close to concert pitch, but everything nominally tunes to high E. Bingo. So there's a tuning fork in my brain but I have to learn how to use it. It also means I could be good with alto sax - it's an E flat instrument.

McSoft introduces a new software concept - security. Gee, like nobody ever thought of that before. Well I suppose it's a new concept for Redmond. The stuff which won't come out for two years creates an electronic vault where everything is encrypted. Gee, I've had that for years - just not using Windoze. But the incredible part is the name, Palladium named after a statue that was supposed to protect the town of Troy from invaders. Curious choice of names. We all know how well that worked. And with some 90+% of cumputer attacks favoring the Trojan Horse method of entry it makes it even more curious. Oh, and you'll have to upgrade your computer and get this special version of Windoze (whenever it comes out) to make use of it. Or you can just keep your insecure version and let folks steal your files and plant virii on your machine. You'll have to keep it another two years anyway since this is all vapor and hype - McSoft's primary product.

It's like that Jeff Beck tune. I'm goin' down. Down, down, down, down, down. That's what's in store for the markets tomorrow after the latest accounting fraud - this time WorldCom. Should be able to pick up something like Nortel for a buck a share. But don't bother. This one will roll on at least a few more days. Wanted: CFO for a Fortune 500 company. BA in accounting. Must have recent fraud convictions and forgery skills are a definite plus.