upcoming switchover to digital TV (currently scheduled for June 12, 2009) affect wireless microphone

The problem is not the TV broadcast stations.

But, as part of the reorganization of the electromagnetic spectrum, the FCC auctioned the 700 band to the highest bidders (including Qualcomm and AT&T) to facilitate the development of wireless broadband Internet service throughout the United States (and to make some money for the US government - more than $19 billion). While some UHF frequencies are fine, if your UHF wireless microphone operates in the 698-806 mHz bandwidth you may be subject to severe interference and possibly be in violation of the law.

Ironically the TV stations which currently broadcast in the VHF range will be vacating that bandwidth when they go digital (using cable connections). That means that the much maligned VHF microphones will get improved performance.

If you go for a VHF wireless mic, you should have no problems with cross-channel interference even if you have a large number of digital TV stations broadcasting in your area.

Again, let me clarify that the digital TV switchover will affect some, but by no means all, UHF wireless mics currently in use.  The UHF mics being made and sold now are not in the bandwidth that will be affected come June.  And in fact many makers of UHF mics are offering trade-ins on older wireless microphones for new wireless microphones that comply with the new FCC regulations. 

Wireless mics that operate on the UHF bandwidth generally provide somewhat better sound and clearer transmission – at a higher price – than VHF mics.  If you’re using your microphone for spoken word applications or even for karaoke, the sonic difference won’t really matter.  If you’re a musician using your mics in a studio or onstage, however, the new UHF mics may be advisable.

What is Foxtrot?

The Foxtrot is a ballroom dance which is often said to take its name from its inventor, the vaudeville actor Harry Fox however the exact origins are unclear.

According to legend, he was unable to find single female dancers capable of performing the more difficult two-step.  As a result, he added stagger steps (two trots), creating the basic Foxtrot rhythm of slow-slow-quick-quick. The dance was premiered in 1914, quickly catching the eye of the talented husband and wife duo Vernon and Irene Castle, who lent the dance its signature grace and style.

W.C. Handy ("Father of the Blues") notes in his autobiography that Noble Sissle told a story that Handy's Memphis Blues was the inspiration for the Fox Trot. Jim Europe, the Castle's music director, would play slowly the Memphis Blues during breaks from the fast paced Castle Walk and One-step. The Castles were intrigued by the rhythm and Jim asked why they didn't create a slow dance to go with it. The Castles introduced the "Bunny Hug" in a magazine article. They went abroad and in mid-ocean sent a wireless to the magazine to change the "Bunny Hug" to the "Foxtrot."

It was later standardized by Arthur Murray, in whose version it began to imitate the positions of Tango.

At its inception, the Foxtrot was originally danced to ragtime. Today, the dance is customarily accompanied by the same big band music to which swing is also danced.

From the late teens through the 1940s, the foxtrot was certainly the most popular fast dance and the vast majority of records issued during these years were foxtrots. The waltz and tango, while popular, never overtook the foxtrot. (Even the popularity of the lindy hop in the 1940s didn't dent the foxtrot because the foxtrot could be danced to those lindy hop records, as well.)

When rock and roll first emerged in the early 1950s, record companies were uncertain as to what style of dance would be most applicable to the music. Famously, Decca Records initially labelled its rock and roll releases as "Fox trots", most notably "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets. Since that recording, by some estimates, went on to sell more than 25 million copies, "Rock Around the Clock" is technically the biggest-selling "Foxtrot" of all time.

Over time, Foxtrot split into slow (Foxtrot) and quick (Quickstep) versions. In the slow category, further distinctions exist between the International or English style of foxtrot and the continuity American style, both built around a slow-quick-quick rhythm at the slowest tempo, and the social American style using a slow-slow-quick-quick rhythm at a somewhat faster pace.

In the context of International Standard category of ballroom dances, for some time Foxtrot was called Slow Foxtrot, or Slowfox. These names are still in use, to distinguish from other types of Foxtrot.

Happy Easter

A .......You are the Alpha and Omega

B........You are the beginning and end

C........Thank you for dying on the cross

D.......... You helped Gideon defeat the Medianites and you will help me defeat my enemies

E........You are everlasting

F........God help me fear you

G ........You are the only God

H.........You are Holy

I..........You are the great I am

J .........Jesus you are the only way to get to heaven

K........I cant wait to see your kingdom

L........You loved me till the end

M........You are the Messiah Jesus

N........No one can compare to you

O........Oh God you are amazing

P .........You have a plan and purpose for me

Q.........At your voice the mountains quake

R.........You are the redeemer

S.........You died to save us

T.........Your word is true

U.........You made the universe

V.........You are very big

W........Help me walk with you

X.........You help me find friends on Xanga.com

Y.........Your love is everywhere

Z.........God help me to be zealous for you 

What is West Coast Swing?

WCS is a slotted dance the follower travels back and forth along a shoulder-width rectangle, called the slot, with respect to the leader. The leader is more stationary but will move in and out of the slot depending on the pattern led. A general rule is that the leader leaves the slot only to give way for the follower to pass him.

Socially, it is considered good etiquette (particularly on a crowded floor) to use a fixed slot, in order to allow dancing without incident.

There are urban myths regarding the origin of the slotted style. According to one version, it was an invention of Hollywood film makers who wanted “dancers to stay in the same plane, to avoid going in and out of focus”. Wide angle lenses with adequate depth of field for cinematography had in fact been available since the 1920s. A variation on the "Hollywood film maker" theme is that film makers wanted "to avoid filming the backs" of dancers. A viewing of films featuring the work of Dean Collins in the 1940s, and rock 'n' roll films made in the mid 1950s reveals the fact that dancers turn frequently and inevitably turn their backs to the camera. Although another unslotted swing dance, Balboa, became popular in the same area and under the same conditions, much has been made of "jitterbugging in the aisles" as a source of the slotted style.

Slotted moves were a common part of the step vocabulary of Lindy and/or Jitterbug dancers during the 1940s and 1950s. Rather than the walk, walk of West Coast Swing, however, two sets of triple steps were used when the woman moved down the slot, followed by a rock step rather than the current triple and anchor step.

What is a trillion?

If you had gone into business on the day Jesus was born, and your business lost a million dollars a day, day in and day out, 365 days a year, it would have taken you until October 2737 to lose a trillion dollars.

----STATISTICS----

It now takes more than all of the income taxes collected just to pay the 'debt service' (interest) on the national debt, and it is estimated that, at the present rate of national debt increase, it will have grown to 18.28 trillion dollars by the year 2009.

With a 242% increase in the debt and no more income taxes left to pay the debt service, how do you suppose our children and grandchildren are going repay this enormous debt that every American today is leaving them?

If you ventured a guess that they'd be taxed at about 73%, you would be pretty close.