#312 Let me bore you to sleep - Jason Newland (25th January 2020)

Hello, welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name's Jason Newland. This is Let Me Bore You to Sleep. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes because you might get bored and you might feel sleepy.

And if you feel sleepy you want to be able to go to sleep. In order to do that you need to be able to close your eyes. So that's kind of the point behind that.

As well as safety of course. So you know if you're working on a building site probably don't listen to this. If you're driving a lorry, don't listen to this.

Flying a plane, don't listen to this during those activities. Probably even, you know, anything where you don't, anywhere where it's not safe to fall asleep. But that's kind of the thing.

You know, so although listing all those situations would be very boring, I don't think that I've got recording, it wouldn't record for that long I don't think. So maybe I shall list. Okay so let's have a look, let's have a look.

So if you've got something that you, you can look at it in different ways. It can be if someone's like a perfectionist. So I've just googled 11 careers for perfectionists.

So let's have a look. These are people, when you're doing that job you wouldn't want to be listening to this because, you know, you couldn't do that while you were safely closing your eyes. And some people might say, oh what about blind people? And I'd say, well what do you mean? And they say, well blind people have kind of always got their eyes closed, which isn't true obviously.

But it's about falling asleep, not really about the visual side of things. You know, so if someone who is, or what's the correct PC term, visually impaired, someone's visually impaired and they're crossing the road, or on a tightrope, or I don't know, you know, just basically, yeah, don't be listening to on a tightrope, don't be listening to this. It's about safety ultimately, you know, but I don't normally list all the different occupations, but I think I shall today.

Not all of them obviously, because I don't know if I'd have to live to be about 194 in order to fit all the different jobs in. So this is 11 Careers for Perfectionists and it says, are you that person who walks into a room and immediately notices a picture hanging slightly crooked? Well, there isn't pictures in every single room I go into, so that doesn't make sense. And do you feel compelled to fix it? No, if anything, I want to turn it upside down.

While this cookie quirk may drive your friends and family mad, it can come in handy for many occupations. Here are several careers that are good for Perfectionists. So these are some of the jobs which you wouldn't want to be listening to sleep recordings.

I mean, I would say don't listen to any sleep podcasts or recordings that anyone makes, but you know, it's not my responsibility to tell you that on behalf of other people, but it would make sense, you know. And yeah, it's like, I suppose it's about using intelligence, I suppose. I don't know.

It doesn't seem to be something that even would need a huge amount of brain power to figure it out, but I might be wrong. So airline pilot, and I'm not talking about airline pilot being something that would be easy to do with no brain power. I wasn't connecting the two.

They just happened to be connected as the airline pilot was the beginning of a sentence and the, you know, maybe not needed much brain power was the end of another sentence, when in fact, really, it was the end of a paragraph, if it was in writing format. So airline pilot or pilot, with responsibility for hundreds of lives at a time, it's no wonder being exact and accurate are essential qualities for pilots. They fly passenger, carrying airplanes on a fixed schedule.

I've kind of wondered why they're given a description of the job. And do you think if they just put airline pilots and just kind of went on to, you know, the information about the job, people would be going, oh, I quite like the idea of that. It's 137,000 a year.

You know, this is 2017. And so that sounds like a good amount of money. Yeah.

And I wonder what it is, though. I wonder if it involves picking oranges. I wonder if it's gonna, we'll have to wear special shoes.

We'll have to have a new haircut. We'll have to wear a hairnet. Oh, I wish I knew more about the job.

So he's giving you details here. They do pre-flight checks following a prescribed list, prescribed, a prescribed list that included making sure the aircraft is balanced and has an adequate fuel supply. Pilots also diligently monitor fuel consumption during flights.

So that's not, that's all they do, really. So it's not, that's quite easy. And so that's fine.

Number of people employed in 2016, 84,000. And I'm guessing this is in America due to the fact that they put the coinage in dollars instead of pounds. So there's apparently, according to this, and this is 2016 figures, 84,000 airline pilots.

The next one is director, but not a film director. He says whether they are in charge of, oh, it is film director. I thought they were talking about company director.

Okay. Director, whether they are in charge of movies, television or stage shows, commercials or news broadcasts, directors must see it to it that everything that takes place during the productions runs smoothly. They select scripts or choose news stories, hire talent and oversee the work of entire casts and crews.

And apparently they get paid $71,620. I, oh, I don't know if that would be correct, surely. Surely it'd be higher than that.

I mean, $71,620 an annual salary. This is based on 2017. I don't, I mean, that's what about, that's less than 50,000 pounds.

So to be in charge, a director of a movie or television or stage shows, they're going to be on a lot more than 40,000 pounds. A heck of a lot more than that, I reckon. Because you think if you were the director of a TV show, early morning, especially in America, where they get paid, the news anchors get paid quite a lot of money.

I was surprised at that. Because I looked into it recently, and I remember saying to myself, wow, I'm surprised at that. And if the talent is getting paid huge amounts of money, you know, the person in front of the camera, I understand that they're going to get possibly the biggest amount of money outside of the people in charge.

People in charge always make the most money. But the kind of the second down from being in charge, and maybe like owning the news channel, or, you know, managing the news channel would be the director, possibly. They'll be on some big money, I reckon.

But maybe I'm wrong. I never have been before, but I suppose it's the first time. Accountant.

According to this, accountants earn pretty much as much as the directors. So I don't, it's not making sense to me. So this is someone that would need attention.

So if you're a director of a stage play, and you're overseeing everything, and they're saying, where's Alan? Where's Alan? He's supposed to let us know what happens next. We're going live. The audience are waiting for the next scene.

And Alan's there, fast asleep, listening to me on his headphones, talking about how you shouldn't listen if you're a director. How surprised I am that they're not getting paid more. He's probably thinking, yeah, should get paid more.

Bloody hell. Wouldn't work, would it? Or a pilot. I suppose at the worst case, if you're going to listen to me, make sure you've checked you've got enough petrol first.

Enough fuel in your little plane. Or at least keep one eye open. I don't know, just keep both eyes open.

Accountant. Accountants prepare financial statements and explain their findings to their employers and clients. In all fairness, if being an accountant doesn't send you to sleep, then listening to me won't.

If doing accounts and doing spreadsheets all day, if that, you know, if you've, I'm not going to, I don't think I'd be able to even scrape the surface on someone that's able to deal with that. There's 1.4 million people in America are accountants. I mean, that's a level of concentration.

For me, with a plane, the level of concentration is to, you know, make sure that, you know, you, well, you know, that you are safe and everything. Look out for mountains and, you know, hot air balloons. But with an accountant, the trick would be to not fall asleep.

For me, that would be the task in hand is to not just fall asleep on your desk. And they get paid 69,000 apparently, which is about 40,000 pounds, probably 41,000, 42,000 pounds. Of course, the amount they get paid would depend upon, this is median annual salary.

I'm guessing that means the average, you know, spread out between the people that get paid a lot and people that get paid less than a lot. Oh, Andre's sleeping in his bag tonight. Good boy on the paper.

I think he was about to do, go to the toilet on the carpet and he looked up and he saw me looking at him. So he backed up onto the paper and did a wee wee there. I think the reason he likes his bag now is because I took him out in it.

I think it was yesterday. And he got to roll around in the mud and in the grass. And what he does is he rolls around and then he gets into the bag and he puts that smell from the grass and the mud into the bag.

And then he likes the bag again. So I think that's why he sleeps in it so much during the summer, because I take him out a lot in the summer and he's constantly in and out of the bag. So the next one is, I'm going to tell you what he's doing now.

Andre, you've got water there. Laboratory technologist. Laboratory technologists examine specimens under microscopes, counting cells and looking for abnormalities.

They also type and cross match blood samples for doctors and other healthcare professionals rely on laboratory technologists to help them to detect stuff. So yeah, you'd want to be, you wouldn't want to be doing that with your eyes closed and headphones on telling you to go to sleep. Go to sleep now.

Hurry up, go to sleep. A court reporter. So court reporters transcribe the proceedings of trials, hearings and legislative meetings.

They put spoken words, including oral testimonies, rulings and remarks into written form. Wow. Yeah.

I need to, I wonder how they do it, because they actually, it's not a normal typewriter, is it? It's a, you know, those transcribers. It's not, I wonder how it works. I'll have to look this up.

Sorry. Court transcriber machine. Court transcriber machine.

How it works. Okay. I need to look into this because I don't know how it works.

Why is transcription? How does it work? No, no, that's not what I want. Why? Why are you doing this to me? Stop it. Rev.com came up.

That's not what I wanted at all. Wind me up. Go away.

By the way, if you're out there and you're still awake, can you please transcribe all of my recordings for me? Thanks. So I thought it'd be good to transcribe them and then put them on the podcast and stuff for people that, for people that can't hear, so they could read what I'm saying. I don't know if it'd work, but it might.

How to write on a steno, that's a steno machine. That's what it's called. Stenotype.

Oh, let's have a look. How does a stenographer machine work? A stenographer is actually a trained transcriptionist, meaning they record spoken word into written copy and they do it fast. We all know that.

I didn't understand. I mean, how they do it, because lots of different people talk in at the same time. Wow.

Stenographers, court reporters and transcriptionists use a special keyboard or specialized keyboard called a stenograph machine, which has fewer keys than a conventional alphanumeric keyboard. All right. OK, so let's have a look.

This has got a bit of information here. What is a stenographer and how do they type so fast? So this is on courtreportingky.com. I guess that's KY Jelly. I don't know.

But it's, if you like me, the first time you heard the word stenographer, your thoughts may have jumped to visions of white washed walls and an operating table or a geologist using special equipment to survey land. Alas, stenographer, no, stenography has nothing to do with the either of those fields. Nothing to do with the either.

I think it should be nothing to do with the either the of those fields. A stenographer is actually a trained transcriptionist, meaning they record spoken word into a written copy. They do it fast.

Stenographers, court reporters and transcriptionists use a specialized keyboard called a stenograph machine, which has fewer keys than a conventional alphanumeric keyboard, full stop. This machine works by pressing multiple keys simultaneously, known as cording or stroking, to spell out whole syllables, words and phrases with a single hand motion. Remember when I said they do it fast? Stenographers are required to type at a minimum of 200 words per minute with some reaching speeds of 375 WPM.

If you want to know what that kind of speed looks like, check out this video. No, I'm not going to check out the video. I don't want to.

Can't make me. Okay. This speed allows stenographers to do incredible things when it comes to live reporting.

Ever wonder who does close captioning? No, no, never have. I thought maybe Tracy or I don't know, Harold, but I didn't give it too much thought. Maybe the bloke that is in a library the other day, wearing a trilby hat.

Could be him. I don't know. Or who are those people you see pecking away at their keyboards during court hearings are? You guessed it.

Stenographers. The utility of a stenographer isn't limited to court reporting. However, they are also used in live press conferences and speeches.

And because of their accuracy, the documents they generate can be used as permanent records and legal reference. So, next time you see those subtitles at the bottom of your, of your TV screen, I think, I don't think they meant to say bottom of your TV screen. I think they meant to say bottom of you, their TV screen.

Or see quick quotes appearing in your Twitter type line from a news story. You'll know the work that goes on behind the scene to get them there. I do find it quite interesting that a, an article written about transcription and, you know, dictation, transcription, you know, is written really badly.

You know, with grammatically incorrect stuff. I mean, you could say, well, you're saying it grammatically incorrect, which is probably grammatically incorrect. But I, you know, that's what I think.

Don't just read about stenographers. See them in action by hiring one of ours to document your next event. And now that's funny.

This is actually a proper professional website saying to you, you can hire one of their stenographers to document your next event. Yet they weren't able to. Wow, isn't that funny? They offer transcription services.

But they didn't write. The writing on the page is incorrect. I'm not, I'm not perfect with all that stuff.

But wow, that's funny. We'll go back, see what else we can find about stenographers. How much do they charge? I wonder.

So their services, court reporting, how much do they charge for that? No job too big. Oh, it's one of these things where they don't tell you how much it is. They just want to get you to call them or to email them or to, I don't know, Twitter them.

But they won't say how much. How interesting. So I'll go back.

I want to know more. How much do courtroom typers make? Full-time court reporters earn average annual salaries of $53,710. The top 10% earned annual wages of $92,400 or more, while the bottom 10% earned $26,100 or less.

The middle 50% of court reporters earned between $35,070 and $69,000 per year. I find it funny. Accuracy has got to be the most important thing.

I still want to see. How do court... I want to find out how it works. Here we go.

This is worldoffreelancers.com. How court reporters use those little machines? How do you use that thing anyway? It says. Most court reporters like myself have heard that question doses, or question dozens, if not... Oh, an advert has popped up. No, I don't want to be on your email address.

If not hundreds of times over the year of our careers, they get asked that question. Witnesses as depositions. I don't understand how you type on that little machine.

And some people say, how did you go to school for that? Well, I'm interested. I might want to learn myself. And of course, like probably most of us, I explained as concisely as possible exactly how I managed to operate my steno machine.

But these really are good questions that people ask, because no one in the world except for court reporters ourselves have any idea at all how we do what we do. Well, actually, it's not just court reporters, it's other people as well that use them. So she's a little bit up herself there, I do believe, as I said earlier, people on television to do the live subtitles and stuff.

So knowledge of steno machines is rare. Current people, court reporters, retired court reporters, and court reporting students are the only people, again, it's wrong. The only people in the world who have any idea how to use steno machines.

Again, it's wrong. It's lying. Only approximately 30,000 court reporters are currently working in the United States.

Thousands more are retired or currently studying court reporting. So let's say the total number of people in the US who know how to operate steno machines is approximately 50,000. The population of the United States is around 328 million.

That means only a minuscule 0.015% of Americans know how to use steno machines. She's showing off a little bit, isn't she? I think. So there's a photograph of a stenograph diamant.

And she said, it's exactly like the one I currently have. I bought mine new for $4,500 in 2013. But now Amazon sells them reconditioned for $2,200.

Just look at it. It looks a little bit like... Do you remember the old word processor machines that you could get that were like with the screen? And it's like a self-contained word processor. Because I used to own one in, I think it was 1996.

And I mean, they were basically... They weren't a precursor to computers, but they were... I don't know, they seem to be... That technology seems to... They're kind of like a heavy laptop in a way. But they're good. I had one.

But it looks a bit like that. It was a bit like something that I used to own in 1996, that you're never going to be able to know what it is, because I can't show you it or explain it because it's not in front of me. It's just the screen looks a bit similar.

It almost looks like a typewriter. Which is what kind of, I suppose, a word processor was, wasn't it? It was a replacement for a type writer. But it's got these... It almost looks like they're little pegs.

The keyboard is like one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. So it's 10 keys. And then there's, along the front, at the top, and then there's one, two, three, four at the bottom.

Almost like little... It almost looks like there's three, four little piano stools. And the piano is... I say piano stools, I don't mean the piano's done a poo. I mean the piano stools for people to sit on whilst playing music.

Playing the piano. Looks a little bit like that. And on the screen, it's got a bunch of zeros and stuff.

So I don't know, do wonder how this works. So I want to find out. So it says, I explain that we press down groups of individual keys simultaneously to write syllables, words and phrases phonetically, rather than spelling them out letter by letter, like on a computer keyboard.

Doing this, we can type much faster than anyone can on a typewriter or a computer. And this is why we use steno machines to write down what people are saying. So they do it phonetically, which means I guess they'd have to convert it again.

They'd have to change it to proper words, like the correct spelling. Maybe that's why the spelling of that website was so awful. Or the, yeah.

So spans three centuries and two millennia so far. Really? Steno machines for 300 years. Really? I don't know.

Surely not. No, I think by centuries, probably decades, surely. Steno machines in the early years were quite primitive, like most things in the early years, because they were, of course, not computerized.

A double-decker paper tray stuck out of the front of the machine. There would be a block of paper about a foot long and two inches high in the bottom part of the tray. And then they'd thread one end of the paper through a little slot into the back of this steno machine.

And as we wrote, the paper would flow from the bottom to the top part of the tray, with each word that was spoken recorded in blue ink. When the paper ran out, everything had to stop until it was replaced. Okay, it's showing there's a little picture of, well, it looks a little bit like a printer.

Like an ancient steno, an ancient steno machine. It's a picture, it's called Stenograph Stentura 8000. And she's saying it's exactly what I used back in the day.

So she's 300 years old. Wow. They go for $1,110 on Amazon.

Steno machines are now computerized. Today there's no paper and no risk of accidentally flushing the only record of what you're doing down the toilet. Why would you flush it down the toilet? We have multiple bake-ups, and we're far more high tech.

So then she says, she wants to bring it back to herself again. Many people ask me if steno machines contain those squiggly lines. In other words, old fashioned shorthand.

The answer is no. The answer is no, they don't. No, they don't.

The keys on the machines contain letters of the English alphabet. But the language we use to write on the machines is not called English. It's called steno, or machine shorthand.

We call the steno, we call the notes that we make, notes. This is the English language transformed into a sort of written code, decipherable only by scopists. Scopists are the behind the scenes people who frequently transcribe these transcriptions into verbatim transcripts.

So they turn this gobbledygook into mingbong. It's all right now. And it's all perfect, correct English.

And so it looks as good. Scopists are a big secret in the world of court reporting. Also no one aside from court reporters and scopists or scopists and their families know they exist.

But I do now. Scoping is much easier and quicker to learn than court reporting. And the job only requires a computer and a software program.

It's a great freelance job. And people who learn how to become scopists can make really good money. Ah, steno machines have 22 keys.

Now I was looking at the keys on it. How many did I see? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Okay, I could only see 20.

But you know, I'm not going to argue. But uh, I can only see 20. Let's see what they say.

So steno machines have 22 keys, each of which contains a letter of the alphabet, except for the key in the very middle of the machine, which contains an asterisk. Or an asterisk. Not to be confused with the Roman cartoon.

Numbers are written by pressing down certain alphabet keys in conjunction with pressing down the number bar, which runs along the top of the machine. They are no, there are no individual punctuation keys. Instead, you have to press down groups of keys to create each punctuation mark.

And there's a little picture saying, behold, and there's a picture of, I have no idea what that is. Basically, there's 1, 2, 3, 4 lines. The top right corner is FPLT.

Then below that on the left side of the page, STPH. And below that on the right side of the page, RBGS. And then below that on the left side, STKPWHR.

And then further along the line on the right hand side, FPLT. I wonder what that means. So they're saying the first line is a period.

Okay. Second line is a tampon. No, it's a question mark.

The third line is a comma. And the fourth line, an exclamation point. Wow.

Okay, so while each key of the steno machine, except for the asterisk, contains letters of the alphabet, not all letters of the alphabet are contained on the keys. Those letters which a steno machine does not have are created by pressing more than one key simultaneously. For example, although there are five vowels in the English alphabet, I didn't know that, there are only four vowels on steno machines.

There is no letter I. So it says court reporters use I by pressing the E and the U keys simultaneously. The asterisk has many purposes. If we mistype a word, we tap the asterisk once and it deletes the word we just typed.

Tap it twice, and we've created a paragraph. Most importantly, the asterisk gives us the ability to create thousands of unique words easily, that without an asterisk would be a mess. Okay, it'd be a mess.

Right. And she's given an example of a mess. So there's two lines, one line, and there's a gap.

So there's TK, there's a gap A with an asterisk, and then a gap PB. Then below, there's another line which says the same line without the asterisk. So TK, A and then PB.

Now, you know, clearly there's a huge difference between those two lines. And one makes huge, you know, amazing sense and the other one is just, it's just I don't know what it means. No, neither of them make any sense to me.

So believe it or not, the top line is the name Dan. Okay. Dan.

The bottom line are the words did and. It would be super hard to differentiate the two without an asterisk. So it says, so this is court reporter education.

Again, it's not only used for that, but it's, you know, these steno machines, how do you learn? And they do go to school to learn how to use steno machines. This is how we become court reporters. It takes most court reporters at least two years to complete training.

This may shock you as a lot of people think learning how to write down testimony spoken at hundreds of words a minute for hours on end. This may shock you as a lot of people think learning how to write down a testimony spoken at hundreds of words a minute for hours on end should only take a few days. I don't think anyone thinks that.

I think you're, I think you're, you know, I imagine anyone, if you say, oh, I type hundreds and hundreds of words a minute at the speed of lots of different conversations all going on at the same time, no one's going to think, wow, that must have took you days to learn. That must have taken you at least four days. Wow.

No, I'd think a couple of decades, or a couple of millennia, maybe. In reality, memorising what letter is on each key of the machine and learning how to write out basic words and sounds usually takes several months. Unlike typewriter keys, there are no letters or numbers on any of the keys of a steno machine.

Court reporters memorise absolutely everything. Most people who begin reporting programs begin, do not, do not finish. The dropout rate is extremely high because it's so tough.

I can, I can imagine. I wonder how much it costs. How much do they get paid? I'm thinking of changing my career from, no, it's not really changing, is it? It's just starting a career.

After we've memorised the placement of each letter and the basics of writing out syllables, words and phrases, we move on to speed building. In order to graduate from most court reporting programs, in order to become licensed in the state in which we work, and in order to be awarded any of the several certificates from the National Court Reporters Association, you must write an absolute minimum of 225 words per minute for at least five minutes without stopping at an extremely high degree of accuracy, usually at least 98%. I'd have thought that it'd be for longer.

I thought in order to graduate you need to be doing like a couple of hours or something, or an hour at least. So it says there are different means of typing on a computer keyboard, namely RealTyping and Hunt and Peck, and there are also different means for writing on a steno machine. These different means are called theories.

Different schools teach different theories. I learned Philadelphia Clinic Theory in Texas. Then right after school, when I moved to Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, not Philadelphia, oh okay, I was wondering, to begin my career, the court reporters I knew who had studied there had learned the Wiley Theory.

Oh, that must have been embarrassing. So you've got the Philadelphia Clinic Theory, and they're doing the Wiley Theory. How did you get through it? I mean, that must have just caused so many problems.

I'm not sure I spelled this correctly, because apparently it's an archaic theory, and I can't find it anywhere online. So basically, she just dissed all those people that were using the Wiley Theory, because it's so archaic and out of fashion and outdated. Oh, that was a bit of a low blow, wasn't it? Other theories include Phoenix, as well as Roberts, Walsh, Gonzalez.

When my fellow court reporters and I talked about it, we found that there was little difference in our theories. Court reporters all can read each other's steno notes, although our individual writing styles are usually quite different. Many times we'll find a word or two written by someone else that is so different, so different from the way we'd have written it, that it's hard for us to decipher.

Court reporter steno notes are like snowflakes, no two are alike. All snowflakes are the same. While most people, thankfully, don't talk as fast as the required 225 words per minute for five minutes without stopping, some do, and they really do.

I was so shocked and so surprised at the same time. I just couldn't believe it. And some talk much faster for much longer.

So court reporters have to be prepared for anything. As such, we have memorized and entered into our software dictionaries hundreds if not thousands of what we call brief forms and phrases in order to help us write even faster than 225 words per minute, if necessary. Learning how to write words phonetically on a steno machine gives us the ability to do our jobs.

Using brief forms and phrases gives us the ability to do our jobs even better. Is that a drink? It's made my throat even drier. I'll just have to stop drinking sand.

We learn many of these while we're in court reporting school. And we make up money. We make up many more of our own through our careers because they're easy to remember or are needed for words and phrases that we covered in school but which we never covered, weren't covered, but were encountered on the job.

So it's almost like they've got pre-planned or pre-programmed words or phrases. Okay. Without these brief forms and phrases, each syllable spoken would require a stroke of the steno keyboard in order to write more quickly and neatly.

We abbreviate with brief forms and phrases. A court reporter is designed to memorize things in ways that are logical, easy to remember and make sense of. I kind of want to know how to use it.

So here are some of the examples of steno translation into plain English. Brief forms and phrases as well as regular words. The steno you will see used here is my personal steno.

Other court reporters would write some of the following differently than I do. If you're a court reporter or a scoppist who knows steno, you'll be able to read most of this. If you're not, there will be still be a word or two you can catch.

So brief forms. So use brief forms to write more than one syllable in only one stroke. Here's an example of how to write the subject of this post.

This is in steno and it says st, a couple of gaps and on the line below ph, then back to the other line again, further across to the right, o asterisk e, and down another line down f, then up p, b, but below the other p there's another p, and then further across on the lower line is an s. So from that I would say stef, like the name stef comes up. So let's see if I'm right. The first line is steno, the second line is machines.

Okay, s, t, o, phrases. Court reporters use phrases to report more than one word in just one or two strokes. So have a look here.

There's three lines. The first one is wh, and there's a gap or two gaps, a, then a big gap, u, then a couple of more gaps, r, p, b, and then there's two lines down, there's another line, wh, couple of gaps, a, like before, and then u, gap, r, gap, b, a few more gaps, and then dz at the end of the middle line. And then further down, it's the same as the other two upper lines, wh, couple of gaps, and an a, and then there's e, u. So all the all the u's are kind of in line from the top to the bottom, but there's an e in front of the one on the bottom.

And then there's a couple of gaps, an r, p, b, l, g. Now the r is the same all the way down from the top, the middle, and the bottom line. The p is on the top line and the bottom line, and the b, again, is on the top, middle, and bottom line. The lg after that is only available, well, it's not only available, but it's only on the bottom line.

Okay, so the first line is, these are the phrases. The first line, wh, a, u, r, p, b, what is your name? Okay, second line, what is your address? And third line is, what is your age? Okay, so what is your name? There's no n, no address, no a, what is your age? No, I can't see how that works. So with three strokes of the keyboard, court reporters are able to capture three of your most vital statistics and learn some very important information about you.

Ah, there are thousands of words, of brief words, thousands and thousands of brief words and phrases, but there are even more individual words. For example, willis, willis world is spelled out, and then t, p, r, a, o, e, h, r, a, e, r, p, b, s, it's all over the place. And it says underneath, here are the words, here are the words world of freelancers, here are the words world, here are the words world of freelancers.

Okay, world is obvious, f is of, okay, and t, p, r, a, o, e, dash, h, r, a, e, r, p, b, s, freelance, is freelancers. Doesn't sound like freelancers, does it? And it says here, I know that looks very complicated, but for it, but don't worry, it's very easy. Easy to say, it's easy.

And it goes on to more, it's like, wow, this is good stuff, I need to come back to this. World of, so this is worldoffreelancers.com, this is the website. I want to become a steno, stenographer, stenographer, yeah, stenographer.

That's what I want more than anything I've ever wanted in my life. I'm so excited. Oh, my fingertips and toes are tingling.

Can you imagine having a job that actually paid money? You know what? That might be something that I could actually do. Andres decided to, he's come as close as he can get to me and start scratching and making noise. Now he's biting his tail.

I don't know what it is, because he hasn't got anything on him. There's no fleas or anything. He's absolutely, he could do with a bit of a bath though.

I might give him a bath. I feel guilty when I give him a bath because it's almost like he's, I don't know, kind of like I'm punishing him when I'm not. You know, it's weird.

It's strange. Yeah, very strange. So I'm probably going to bring this to an end.

But I think we've just both discovered, both of us, I think we've all discovered something new and something that could be my next career. I've just got to figure out how much it costs. Before we go, let's see how much it costs.

Steno. Steno machine training. Let's have a look.

Steno machine training. Accredited Steno. Project Steno.

Oh, look, it's Project Steno's basic training program. It's a free introductory six week program to introduce you to the rudimentals of the machine. Okay.

I just want to see how much this costs. Steno training. It says here, this is Steno.online. Start Steno training for $189.95 per month.

Wow. So Steno theory training and basic speed building. Learn machine shorthand.

It's okay. And then speed building. $169.95. And that's from 120 words to 240 words a minute.

How long is the training? The training is not for a specifically defined time. Okay. We cannot guarantee a set timeline, but can tell you that we have had students complete this program between two years and four to five years.

We don't know how your progress is up to you and what you can put into the practice regime or regiment. So I wonder, this is quite interesting, is this would be, I want to see UK. Because I'm imagining that this is something that you just have to be really good at.

So it's, you know, if you can prove that you're good at something, then you'd get employment, wouldn't you? Wow. I would think that they'd be outdated at some point though, because with the technology of audio to written form, you know, transcription services and the instant stuff that's now available and computers and everything, maybe that service won't be needed. Oh, I've taught myself out of it.

Oh, nevermind. I'm just going to have a quick look, see what the stats are. I'll get rid of steno, all the steno stuff.

At least I've learned something amazing. So, current week, so it's 2.15 in the morning on the 25th of January. I've had 193 downloads so far in the last hour.

Yesterday, the 24th, 3,411 downloads. That's what it says at the moment, but it might be a little bit higher. Oh, that's all right.

That's okay. So I'm going to go. Thank you very much for listening.

And I'll speak to you very soon, probably tomorrow. Lots of love. And remember to be kind to yourself, because you deserve to be happy.

Take care. Bye.