Recently I purchased a left-handed electric guitar to keep on my boat in California. If you are going to learn how to play the guitar you need to practice daily and so I wanted something very inexpensive. If you talk to anyone that knows anything about guitars they will recommend spending a bit more money. However the marine environment is very harsh on things and so I wanted something so inexpensive I wouldn't cry when it gets destroyed. My threshold is around $100. As I play left-handed, I did a quick search on the Internet and found the guitar guide on LeftyFretz. Then I found something inexpensive that met my needs.
Interestingly enough, one of the selling points of the guitar that didn't really matter to me is that it comes with "Free Guitar Lessons." I had decided to use Rocksmith to learn the guitar but am open minded enough to see what the guitar lessons entailed. When the guitar arrived, there wasn't any CD or DVD included. Just a single piece of paper that included a website to visit. There they had a number of online videos teaching various aspects of beginning guitar. In all fairness the sheet of paper included with the guitar resembled one of the best thought-out guitar cheat sheets ever created and the online videos covered most of the basics even if some of them were from other sources than this particular guitar manufacturer. However I have to ask myself if they really needed to advertise "Free Guitar Lessons."
This got me thinking about how other products could advertise free lessons. Musical instrument tutorials can be found everywhere. Shouldn't they all come with free lessons? What about power tools and sports equipment? There wouldn't even need to be a special web page devoted to the tutorials. The instructions could simple just say, "Use your favorite search engine to look for free screwdriver lessons."
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Free Ski Passes
Recently I was given the task of managing volunteers for ski races at Snowbird. I got the job because I am on the ski team's board of directors. This used to be done by another volunteer but we have recently implemented an online system that requires certain computer skills. I am more than happy to help out.
Unfortunately skiing is one of those expensive sports that gets more so each year. Recently I was at Park City and they wanted $86 for one day. You can buy a lot of pizzas for $86.
When my kids started racing, I discovered a little trick to help keep the costs of skiing under control: volunteer to help at ski races. When you volunteer, you get a free pass for the day. Then at the end of the day, you get either one or two more. When I help with races at Park City, I get one, while Snowbird gives two. The only downside is that your presence is generally required all day long and so you don't get much of a chance to ski that first day. Oh and standing on the side of a mountain in the freezing cold is not the best way to spend your weekend. However it is for a good cause.
The nice thing about our website is that you can see what slots are available before you sign up. For instance, my oldest daughter likes to do the scoreboard. Basically she listens to the announcer and writes down the time for each racer's run. That allows parents and spectators to see how each of the racers is doing. It is an easy job but very important.
My hope is that other mountains will follow our example. Then when my kids have a race in Jackson Hole or Snowbasin, I can volunteer my services for a nice cushy job and get out of having to pay for expensive lift tickets.
Unfortunately skiing is one of those expensive sports that gets more so each year. Recently I was at Park City and they wanted $86 for one day. You can buy a lot of pizzas for $86.
When my kids started racing, I discovered a little trick to help keep the costs of skiing under control: volunteer to help at ski races. When you volunteer, you get a free pass for the day. Then at the end of the day, you get either one or two more. When I help with races at Park City, I get one, while Snowbird gives two. The only downside is that your presence is generally required all day long and so you don't get much of a chance to ski that first day. Oh and standing on the side of a mountain in the freezing cold is not the best way to spend your weekend. However it is for a good cause.
The nice thing about our website is that you can see what slots are available before you sign up. For instance, my oldest daughter likes to do the scoreboard. Basically she listens to the announcer and writes down the time for each racer's run. That allows parents and spectators to see how each of the racers is doing. It is an easy job but very important.
My hope is that other mountains will follow our example. Then when my kids have a race in Jackson Hole or Snowbasin, I can volunteer my services for a nice cushy job and get out of having to pay for expensive lift tickets.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Free Software for Everyone
Herman Melville is most remembered as the author of "Moby Dick." When it was first published, the general public thought of it the same way as most high-school students do today: what a bore. What most people don't realize is that it is based on a true story. Only in the true story Captain Ahab doesn't die. The ship does get smashed by an angry whale and the crew is left to survive an incredible ordeal in their life boats.
While I have read "Moby Dick," I actually prefer one of Melville's earlier books entitled "Typee." As with his more famous work, Typee is based on a true story. Melville was good at writing what he knew about. Early in Melville's life, he signed on as crew on a whaling ship. About the time he got to the South Pacific, he realized what a horrible decision he had made and decided to abandon ship in the Marquesas. Typee is a fictional story based on this experience. After the story was published it was discovered that there was more truth to the story than fiction.
Melville describes life in a near perfect world on Marquesas. Food is abundant. If you get hungry, simply pick tropical fruit off the closest tree. If you are looking for a ham sandwich, pigs roamed the area in plentiful quantities and so there was never any concern for food. As for shelter, the entire village pitched in and built you a hut as soon as you were ready to move out of Mom and Dad's. As the weather is relatively perfect, clothing need not be elaborate. So what did everyone do with their time? They lived in what we call a "gift economy." If you liked carving Tiki idols, you would make them and then give them away.
That same "gift economy" exists in the software world. Software that is given away and can be freely used is called "Open Source Software." If you don't want to pay the $125 to Microsoft for a Student/Teacher version of Office, there is OpenOffice.org that reads and writes Office files. Don't want to pay the $699 for Adobe Photoshop, there is GIMP. Doing work with databases and don't want to fork over your first born for Oracle, there is PostgreSQL.
These are not crippled versions of software that you can try for 90 days and then are asked to pay money. These are full working versions of software that mimic the functionality of their more expensive cousins. Should you be interested in making any modifications to the programs, you can also get the source for free. Of course, if you are good enough at software development to make any changes, the open source community hopes that you will make those changes available to everyone.
Open source software is freely available software that you can use without any licensing costs. It is created by people that have a little extra time on their hands and don't mind sharing with you. The next time you think you need to spend money on a new piece of software, do an Internet search and see if there isn't something already out there for free. There generally is.
While I have read "Moby Dick," I actually prefer one of Melville's earlier books entitled "Typee." As with his more famous work, Typee is based on a true story. Melville was good at writing what he knew about. Early in Melville's life, he signed on as crew on a whaling ship. About the time he got to the South Pacific, he realized what a horrible decision he had made and decided to abandon ship in the Marquesas. Typee is a fictional story based on this experience. After the story was published it was discovered that there was more truth to the story than fiction.
Melville describes life in a near perfect world on Marquesas. Food is abundant. If you get hungry, simply pick tropical fruit off the closest tree. If you are looking for a ham sandwich, pigs roamed the area in plentiful quantities and so there was never any concern for food. As for shelter, the entire village pitched in and built you a hut as soon as you were ready to move out of Mom and Dad's. As the weather is relatively perfect, clothing need not be elaborate. So what did everyone do with their time? They lived in what we call a "gift economy." If you liked carving Tiki idols, you would make them and then give them away.
That same "gift economy" exists in the software world. Software that is given away and can be freely used is called "Open Source Software." If you don't want to pay the $125 to Microsoft for a Student/Teacher version of Office, there is OpenOffice.org that reads and writes Office files. Don't want to pay the $699 for Adobe Photoshop, there is GIMP. Doing work with databases and don't want to fork over your first born for Oracle, there is PostgreSQL.
These are not crippled versions of software that you can try for 90 days and then are asked to pay money. These are full working versions of software that mimic the functionality of their more expensive cousins. Should you be interested in making any modifications to the programs, you can also get the source for free. Of course, if you are good enough at software development to make any changes, the open source community hopes that you will make those changes available to everyone.
Open source software is freely available software that you can use without any licensing costs. It is created by people that have a little extra time on their hands and don't mind sharing with you. The next time you think you need to spend money on a new piece of software, do an Internet search and see if there isn't something already out there for free. There generally is.
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