HAPPY STUFF

[Gnarly4X]

Today is a very happy day for me.

I saved a baby Sparrow from drowning in the pool yesterday afternoon. Bonnie held him in her hands for about an hour to get him warmed up and dry. With a little syringe, he drank about ½ ml of warm water. He ate about ½ ml of Teddy's dog food mixed with warm water. We put him in shoe box in the warm garage at about 9pm last night. I woke up this morning about 2:30 and he was alert. Bonnie held him as he drank a couple drops of warm water and about 1 ml of plant protein drink mixed with almond milk and a banana from the syringe.  At daylight we let him on the ground. He can fly a short distance but cannot get airborne. We watched as 3 or 4 Sparrows spotted him and immediately landed near him and then one Sparrow escorted him across the street and near the green belt. It appears she may be the Mother because they started gently pecking at each other.  We named him Lucky this morning.

Geezz.. I love saving baby animals and happy endings. This is a wonderful true wildlife event of human-assisted animal survival. 

Gnarls.

[mudmaster]

Nice work!

[Gnarly4X]

Nice work!

Thank you! 

Gnarls.

[Rocksurfer]

  Though my wife who is afraid of birds would say what were you thinking don't touch it!

[Gnarly4X]

Hey Rocksurfer,

Sorry your wife isf afraid of birds.

It's a fallacy that if a human touches a baby bird, the mother will reject it.

I found a baby dove on the street fresh out of a nest too early.  I managed to put it into the nest of mama dove and 2 other chicks that happened to be nesting in one of our Mediterranean Palms.  She adopted it immediately.

There isn't too many animals or critters I'm afraid of, however I am alert when I'm around Diamondbacks.

There are some that I'd rather not have around me.

Obviously biting and stinging insects are the worst.

In the last 14 years here, I've saved quite a few baby birds and a lizard from death.

Sadly though, the desert can be a very harsh environment for many newborn and baby animals.

The decline of avian communities in the desert regions of the USA is horrible.

Some species are extinct now.

At the rate of human destruction and pollution of land, air, and water, and man-produced climate change, 30% to 40% of all plant and animal species could gone within 50 years.

I've saved probably over a 100 honeybees from drowning.

They're all God's creatures and I enjoy saving a baby animal from death.

Gnarls.

[Rocksurfer]

Actually she would not be worried about hurting the bird or the parents rejecting it, she is just too afraid of them to even consider touching any bird. My brothers ex-wife had a grey parrot and one time my wife went in to go to the bathroom while everyone else was outside, when she tried to exit the bathroom the parrot was waiting outside the bathroom since she roamed freely through the house....  my wife was trapped for over an hour. Bird was really friendly and was talking to her through the door but would not leave. 

[sirdeuce]

Things making me happy right now, Vintage audio equipment and vinyl. Hafler DH110 pre with a DH220 amp powering Infinity speakers Thorens TD-124 turntable with SME 3009 tonearm for source. 40 year old electronics, 60 some year old source and 30 year old speakers bringing 50-80 year old vinyl to life. Now to recap the tube amp and dig up the Julie London discs.

[Gnarly4X]

Vinyl!!

1977.. I got big into vinyl. I still have over 200 albums from the late 70's.  Most of them have only been touched by a needle 1 time.

I went through hours and hours of testing and analysis of how to physically handle the albums to minimize contamination.

The various "brushes" and cleaners were junk.  I ended up using only canned air - difluoroethane.

I still have my Audio-Technica turntable (Thorens was WAY beyond my psychoacoustic perception) receiver, and cassette tape decks.

The Grado G-1+ needle and cartridge cost more than my turntable.

My good friend at the time, Roger, was an audio engineer working for Altec Lansing in Anaheim, CA.
He personally tuned a pair Model 7s for me.  I still have them sitting in the entertainment center right now.

I used to walk into Music Plus to buy albums. The people there knew me, and I got lots of attention when I walked in.
They thought I was an "audiophile", but I was a long way from being an audiophile.

I'd buy 2 or 3 albums at a time.  I asked them to take each album out of the sleeve, place it on their turntable so I could see how much warp there was.
If I didn't like what I saw, I asked them to open another sleeve.  One time they opened 5 sleeves, before I accepted one.

Back then my ears were still OK.  I got so I could tell which artist/album was most picky about the pressings.

Linda Ronstadt was picky about her albums... very high quality pressings.

Jethro Tull, ELO, Pink Floyd, and Jean-Luc Ponty's albums were very high quality.  Fletcher & Munson were alive and well in their albums.

I could go on for hours about those days.

Gnarls.

[sirdeuce]

Yep, could go on forever. This collection was built by my Dad and I. Have albums from the 20s all the way up to the 90s. When he passed I inherited the lot. I can pick out an album and remember the day we got it. Pulled out Queen's "News of the World" album and the memory of facing off with The Ramones was clear as today to me. Yeah, they were walking on the same piece of cement we were, Joey wouldn't give way and the building was on the other side of me, and he pushed me to the ground. I was the wrong 14 year old to push around. Joey did that signing with a fat lip. Good 'ol days.

Yeah, close to 3000 albums in this collection. Don't think I'll ever get tired of listening to music. Currently on Keali'i Reichel, my favorite Hawai'ian vocalist. Sorry Iz.

[Rocksurfer]

Vinyl, I have so many I would say in the hundreds. Started collecting in the 60's mostly 45's then started collecting albums in the early 70's Garrad was my favorite turntable cost me $150.00 used in 75 it was awesome. Currently have an ion wireless streaming turntable. My favorite albums I converted onto a 5tb hard drive at 256kbps mp3 and still convert more from time to time. One time I had a few appraised just to see and got some big numbers on some.

[Gnarly4X]

... My favorite albums I converted onto a 5tb hard drive at 256kbps mp3 and still convert more from time to time. 

I have looked into transferring my vinyl to disc, but it looks like it is soooo time-consuming.

I don't seem to have the time to listen to music like I used to.

I doubt I have any "rare" albums.  The mid to late 70's was a very popular vinyl album market music period.

The record stores and stereo stores were always jam'n!!

At that time I was making a 6-figure income in electronic sales.  I was a highly trained and very success "salesman".

I remember walking into a Pacific Stereo store to buy two separates.  I already knew what I wanted and did some research and made a few phone calls. Back then the salespeople were on big commissions and sales were hot.

I walked in and got immediately hit with a young sales guy.  He said "What are you looking for today?  I said "I'm going to buy some equipment today and right here is what I want."  "Are these in stock?"  They often tried to upsell you, or use the old "Let me check."  Then come back and say "Yes, but we only have 1 set left."  I had my checkbook in my hand and I showed it to him.  I had already written payable to: Pacific Stereo.   I said "All I need to do is plug in the amount."

He got a funny look on his face and I'm sure thought I was joking around.  I said, "What's your best price today?"  He spouted off a price.  I said "Oh gee... my checkbook is not going to like that price and my checkbook knows a lot about money!"  I said "OK, let's make my checkbook happy."  "I know you get paid commission and a bonus."  What's a good commission for you on a 5-minute sale on these two items?"  He spouted a lower figure.  I said "OK, let me try that."  With a pen in my hand, I leaned over the table we were at and acted like I going to write the check.  I stopped and looked right into his eyes and said, "Bob, are you sure you're not giving the store away?" He laughed, and said "No, we will both make a dollar".   I said "OK!" Write it up." I plugged in the total with California's share, and I walked out with my new stereo equipment.

Gnarls.

[sirdeuce]

Transferring vinyl to disc IS time consuming, BUT, a time you can enjoy consuming. Dad started working on just that. He only got about 1/3 of the way through the collection. Best thing about digitizing your vinyl is the vinyl will last loner! Not to mention the ease of access. With the proper file type and editing you won't lose any sound quality and the right DAC to translate to your audio equipment will make it as good as it can be. It's a task that can be done at your leisure.

Dad had decent audio equipment, but the thing that shifted me into high gear on sound quality was a trip to "Laserium", a laser light show put on at Steinhart aquarium and natural history museum's planetarium. That was the day I fell in love with Infinity speakers! First piece they played was Boston's "Foreplay" through the Reference Standard speakers. I went back 5 more times. Woof! They've since, if they're still doing the show, turned the volume down and limited the amount of laser light.

[Gnarly4X]

Laserium...

Yep... been there.  The Griffith Observatory.  Sat and watched a light show like I had never seen before. 

As I remember it was around 1973 or 1974.  I don't remember if we were stone sober or stoned to the bone. 

Great times!! 

There were times when I probably had a tad too much fun. 

Gnarls.

[Gnarly4X]

The American Idol finale is tonight at 5pm.

Who will win the title?

My wife and I have watched American Idol for all 20 years.

It's 100 times better since Lionel Richie, Katie Perry, and Luke Bryan and ABC has taken over the program from Fox.

For us, it is our most enjoyable TV program.

Gnarls

[sirdeuce]

For us it's "So you think you can dance" . My wife is deaf in one ear and losing hearing in the other, it's visual for her. Yeah, we have more movies than music. It's all good! entertainment is entertainment.

[sirdeuce]

Put a smile on your face with this mental image.

A woman getting older.......

"What's that? is  it  a  gray hair?  A  gray  hair!

Call 
                                                                        9 1  1  !

[Gnarly4X]

I don't think we have ever actually correctly picked the winner of American Idol.

We get fooled, and we are just not in the American Idol voters's head.

It's talent contest and a popularity contest.

Noah was obviously the most popular, but does not have the vocals, stage presence, and performing personality as we see in so many music artists.

He is about "country" as you can get.

I predict Huntergirl will go on to become a country singer star and cast a shadow on Noah's fading popularity.

That's just my worthless opinion.

Gnarls

[sirdeuce]

How many rappers have come out of "American Idol"?

[Gnarly4X]

How many rappers have come out of "American Idol"?

Zero that I remember.

What's your point?

Gnarls.

[sirdeuce]

No point, just an observation. Rap, Lounge, Folk, basically "niche" (yes, rap is niche) genres don't fly. The A.I. winners go to mainstream genres. Pop, if you will. Just an observation.
I'd like to see something a bit more diverse from the show. Just got bored with A.I. as all participants seemed to start sounding the same to me. Maybe if they set Kelly Clarckson up to yodel it would be more interesting.

That's one of the reasons I like "So You Think You Can Dance", watching a B-boy and clogger go at it in Ballroom.

If you want to check out yodeling look up Rod Erikson. Listening to that guy gives me cramps in my vocal cords.

[Gnarly4X]

...  That's one of the reasons I like "So You Think You Can Dance", watching a B-boy and clogger go at it in Ballroom.

I spend 10 to 12 hours on an average day on the computer or telephone.

I probably spend 2 to 3 hours a day watching TV.

Yes... SYTYCD is one of our favorite TV time-wasters.   Very entertaining this year so far.

They have really jacked up the show, and somewhat over-done.

I'm not sure yet if I like the judges and the judging style.  Unlike AI, the judges on SYTYCD appear to be a little too "phony".

I'm on the fence on whether or not I will spend my limited evening hour watching it.  It's being recorded, so blasting through the crazy and weird commercials is a plus for watching it.

Like AI, they have injected the "human" side of the performers which makes it way more interesting.

Like this year's AI, the level of talent on SYTYCN appears to be phenomenal.

On "I'd like to see something a bit more diverse from the show."....  I agree watching talent from various places in the world in more interesting.

American Idol is "American".  It's not African, Taiwan, or some other country.  The contestants on AI are selected from cities and towns in AMERICA.

Humans process information 90% visually. The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text.

Our brains love images, so watching dancing is WAY more exciting to our brain.

Gnarls.

[sirdeuce]

There is XXXXXXXXX's got talent. That tends to be interesting. The cultural differences in what is entertainment can definitely be interesting. I like music, for sure, and I don't need to understand the language to enjoy all the variations. Never a chance to get bored.

[Gnarly4X]

I've been an Amazon Prime member for upteen years.

I've had several "customer service" interactions - via chat.

Each time they have been awesome at solving my issue - and I was the one who caused 2 of them.

As much as I dislike Bezos's political ideology, I love his services!

With that said.... I've got a feeling with the supply chain issues and out-of-control inflation, we are going to see some shortage of some consumer items, price increases, and possibly fees for delivery.

Gnarls.

[Gnarly4X]

I'm practicing good stuff.... and working towards "perfect virtue".

"To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness." ~ Confucius

Gnarls.

[sirdeuce]

I've always seen virtue as self indulgent. You can practice all you like and people will not see it in you for what it is. I can say that virtue is good for you internally. It'll get you through the pressures of living in this world.

No person has perfect virtue, even the best of us fall to the negative aspects of life. Best to maintain a balance of good and evil to keep yourself healthy.

[sirdeuce]

On a positive note, if you can maintain a virtuous life while the human race pisses on your shoes and itself .

I do live by the golden rule, as I would have them do to me. I also live by the natural rule, as they have done to you. I find virtue in both practices.

[sirdeuce]

Happy stuff

Monroe or Mansfield?


Lucy Liu  or Ming Na Wen?

[Gnarly4X]

Happy stuff is going to be U3O8 - Triuranium Octoxide.

Happy stuff is going to be nuclear power plants

Solar panels and windmills are scientifically stupid.

The "Green Weenies" are ignorant.

A "net zero" energy by 2030 is impossible.

Nuclear Energy Capacity Factor is 92.5%

Solar Energy Capacity Factor is 24.9%

A nuclear power plant's life span is 40 to 50 years.

A solar panel may last 20 to 25 years.

However, the solar inverters mean time to failure 5 to 10 years!

90% of our future energy will come from energy created by a nuclear power plants.

Petroleum is required to make nearly EVERYTHING!! ... even Bayer Aspirin.

Gnarls.

[sirdeuce]

"Net Zero" would be great! Nuclear would be the way to go, especially if they can develope a way to recycle nuclear fuel waste instead of storing it. Diamond batteries? Solar still has that one very dark issue hanging over it's panels, night. The developement of electrical storage is improving quite rapidly, which could counter that issue though.

I do like the idea of solar. The panel's production rate drops off from day one, even when stored, deterioration is a natural mechanism. Where solar has an edge over nuclear is a lack of added fuel, lower maintenance and regulation, AND, solar is innately safer than nuclear. Not saying a well maintained nuclear IS dangerous, but solar in a meltdown won't destroy a massive area with it's fallout for an extended period of time. Solar DOES have issues with it's production, but not as man as nuclear, choose your poison. We're only killing ourselves to live.

Now, pushing this total dependence on electricity is not feasable YET. Before they can even think of removing all hydrocrbon fueled devices the electric infrstructure needs to be upgraded. As long as we need rolling blackouts because the grid cannot safely transport that level of energy without meting down, it's just not ready. There are already too many devices drawing power on an out dated grid. On a 120* day, the AC is programmed to come on at 3:30 so the house is cool when you walk through the door and the kids get home from school and turn on half the light in the house ad the TVs in their rooms, mom and dad get home and plug in their Teslas, mom turns on the stove and/or oven to make dinner while dad turns on the TV in the living room, yadda yadda. The same thing is happening in a thousand houses at the same time. Doesn't matter how many solar panels and coal and nuclear plants you have going at 110%, the load, not the supply, dictates the wire sizing.
They need to upgrade the grid before they can require all electtric. and that's where I stand on that.

Yes, even with the removal of hydrocarbon consuming machines we will still need to make the plastic trash to choke out the oceans and lands. As far as aspirin? We can prodce that without petroleum, just need to grow massive orchards or Willow trees. Wait, that would require massive amounts of water. DAMN!

I'll keep my cars and gas water and home heaters and my gas stove. When it's freezing outside and the power goes out my coffe will be hot and my eggs and bacon will be cooked. When the power goes out for days at a time I'll still get to work and I won't have to worry about my batteries being too cold to power that electric motor in the car.

[sirdeuce]

Happy stuff! "I drive an MR2"

Showing up at a local car gathering. Everybody has a big expensive, powerful car. I drive in with my little MR2. All these braggarts arguing how and why their car is better than the other, they can't just admire cool cars. I heard one of these  egomaniacs comment on my little car, "What the f^#$ is that?" and then a few under the breath chuckles and guffaws. I ask the guy why he doesn't like little cars and why he needs to drive that expensive Corvette, are you COMPENSATING for something?

I drive an MR2.