Just Saying -- the soapbox thread

[davent]

I've given up on beer in a green bottle.  Always skunky when I've tried it.

Also, here is a handy list of beers that are likely crappy and best avoided:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AB_InBev_brands 

In US restaurants, InBev beers are often all that is available, but there is sometimes a footnote on the menu that says something like, "Ask your server about additional local or seasonal beer selections."  Fun random story:  My younger brother drove to Canada once and was asked at the border what his occupation was.  He replied, "I'm a server."  He was detained and his car was ripped apart in a multiple-hours-long search for drugs.  Apparently, "server" means drug dealer up there.  In the US, it is just a gender-neutral term for waiters and waitresses.

Never heard that before, all kinds of server jobs advertised in regular media, it's used the same up here as in the states.

An online drug slang dictionary has  server  = crack dealer. https://www.noslang.com/drugs/dictionary/s/ & another compiled in the 90's has it, https://www.argot.com/

Telegraph newspaper in England makes reference...https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/6521793/Drugs-slang-what-police-must-learn-R-to-Z.html

And to up your street cred, July 2018 DEA publication - https://ndews.umd.edu/sites/ndews.umd.edu/files/dea-drug-slang-terms-and-code-words-july2018.pdf

American source defining server - https://willingway.com/common-drug-slang/

Ever felt that your street cred vocabulary was lacking a little? Haven't a clue what the man is going on about or what it is he's about to offer you? Well, worry no more thanks to the White House's very own super hip Street Guide...Get hip, doodz!!! (Some of it's totally ridiculous, but hopefully some of you might find it helpful).

Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade March 1997.
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse

The ability to understand current drug-related street terms is an invaluable tool for law enforcement, public health, and other criminaljustice professionals who work with the public. This document contains over 2,000 street terms that refer to specific drug types or drug activity.


http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugterm.html

dave

[alanp]

That engine isn't steam. It's petrol-powered, with a single hoooooge piston.

I'm betting it has the ungodly torque of steam, though!

[juansolo]

You'll probably like this Alan

[alanp]

Something about the drumming in Rob Zombie's track "House of 1000 Corpses" (NOT  the movie, the track from Sinister Urge) is really groovy, to me.

Maybe it's the slightly janky timing, or how the hats rattle a bit longer than I'm used to, or how they're miked up, and rather crisp and prominent in the mix. Could be all of that. But it sounds really jazzy to me.

Fair warning if you look the song up, it's Rob Zombie.

[Willybomb]

Just saying that once again I'm looking at the entries and WIPs for the BOTY contest and wondering why I bother...

[EBK]

Just saying that once again I'm looking at the entries and WIPs for the BOTY contest and wondering why I bother...

That reminds me.  I still need to make a video for my entry.

Every entry makes the community better.  That's why you should bother.   

[madbean]

Just saying that once again I'm looking at the entries and WIPs for the BOTY contest and wondering why I bother...

There are going to be lots of prizes. Actually, I need to get that list up today. Point being there's always a chance to win something. Plus, there's also the audio contest.

[thesmokingman]

You'll probably like this Alan

that's neat ... I grew up going to steam/vintage tractor shows (Terning's in Valley Center, KS) and of course classic car shows (Starbird's in Wichita) ... always fun to see equipment not from the U.S.

[alanp]

Had a silly idea at work today... what are your entries for the following three sportscars?

1. DO NOT WANT.
2. Money no object!
3. Reasonably possible dream car!



DO NOT WANT: Porsche 911.

For me,  the 911 has always looked like the world's fattest man sat on the bonnet and, like a squished stressball, the car's arse ballooned like a full nappy. Plus it had a reputation for being squirrelly if you aren't good. As a package, the 911 is a massive turn-off to me.

Money no object: Lambo Miura.

It has all the drama and pantomime of the later Lambos, but without the goggle-eyed lunacy of the Countach or Diablo, and without the electrowizardry of the modern Lambos. Classically beautiful supercar with a V12. Plus, unlike, say, one of those replica Argentinian Bugatti Type 37s, you can park it out (somewhere nice, admittedly, not somewhere it will go walkies) and not worry quite so much that you'll come back to a crowd of anoraks (Miura is just as likely to attract pretty girls), or whether it will rain.

Reasonably possible: Mid-nineties Nissan Skyline

Growing up, the Big Dog sportscar in New Zealand was probably always the Skyline. Sure, there were the Holden and Ford V8's, but they were always more a Dad car. Plus, as everyone knew, Bathurst banned the Skyline because it kept winning all the damn time against the V8s. If you buy one, though, you NEED to get it checked out, thoroughly, because there is a pretty good chance that any given Skyline has had the bottom thrashed off it and gone through a few sets of tyres.

You do see the occasional Camaro or Mustang, but they're rare in NZ. Plus, if you do get one, you're going to get endless cracks about gallons to the mile, and the massive difficulty in getting Wellington Cathedral to go around a corner at speed.

Japanese imports have always been the major component of New Zealand's collective vehicle fleet, and Japanese sportscars have always been visible. The Mazda Miata was very popular in the Auckland crowd for awhile.

[juansolo]

Had a silly idea at work today... what are your entries for the following three sportscars?

1. DO NOT WANT.
2. Money no object!
3. Reasonably possible dream car!

I'm in the very privileged position to have owned and driven many of the cars or types of cars that I've wanted to and I feel that makes my list a bit... weird. As a lot of the usual stuff I've kinda been there and done that, or I've done something else that's rendered it redundant (driving a sports prototype race car around Spa makes most road cars seem a bit dull, regardless of how many horses they have).

1. Do not want most current exotica. Anything with flappy paddles or batteries just do nothing for me at all. To be fair most things made after the 90's do nothing for me (with a couple of exceptions). They have all sorts of systems to stop you doing stupid things and modern tyres and brakes are really very effective. To get anywhere near their limits you need to be going so far over the speed limit, you're probably going to jail. Anything beneath their limit I just find dull. Going fast in a straight line is fun the first couple of times, but that's about it.

2. It's between two cars: The Eagle Speedster, and a Mercedes SL 300 Roadster. Money no object I'd have both, simple as that the 50's and 60's were a golden era when it comes to actual car design, some of the prettiest creations known to man. Those two cars to me are the epitome of automotive elegance. I also have a thing for old Bentleys, I'd certainly want one of those in my collection also...

3. Reasonable money for me isn't a lot these days as I haven't worked for the last seven years. At this point in time I'd have a mint Mk1 MX-5 (that's actually my brother's car, I have a mk3 currently). Quite frankly in the real world, it's harder to have much more fun on the road and still have a practical and reliable car. When I was working, I'd have probably gone for a Jaguar F-Type S convertible with a manual gearbox, or being the old man that I am now a 5.0 Jaguar XK Coupe. Because in luxury cars, I have no problem with a big engine and an auto.

Reading that back makes me look like some sort of Jag nut... Which is odd considering I've never owned one! Came close to buying a Mk2 once though that looked not unlike this one. I'd just bought a hot hatch (it was the 90's...) annoyingly and couldn't justify the amount of cash I'd lose on it in part exchange.

[Muadzin]

Cars are for me a means to an end, to get from A to B with the stuff that I want. As such sports cars hold no interest to me. Besides, what would be the point anyway? The roads are either full of speed bumps, or in various state of disrepair. Or both. So you can't drive fast on them anyway. And the places where you can tend to be lined with speed cameras.

Now if money were no object I wouldn't mind having a 60's Ford Mustang, or a classic Mini Cooper, although I reckon that compared to modern cars they drive terribly and have the road safety characteristics that was typical of those days, as in none at all. A classic WW2 Willys Jeep would also be nice to have, as a WW2 buff. The sound of that engine, that lovely sound.....

[thesmokingman]

I agree on the 911
I'd have to toss the coin between the aston martin db5 or the 1967 ferrari 275 gtb convertible
while it is tempting to choose the challenger hellcat or whatever their highest horsepower current production model is, I'll go for the equally ridiculous vintage Vanishing Point hemi challenger r/t

[alanp]

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190108-is-the-era-of-the-movie-star-over

I suspect I know why the "era of the movie star" is over. People have a lot more choice.

Back in the day when video on the internet was really not an option (when nearly everyone was on dialup), if you wanted to watch something, it was either VHS, TV, or go to the movies. Plus, of course, back then, a big TV was nowhere near as common, making the big movie theatre screen even more impressive.

These days, you can just watch any of a vast multitude of movies on your 50" TV with home theatre sound over Netflix.

[alanp]

Really nice history lesson on how normal, working class people achieved legal rights.

[Willybomb]

Just saying that today I replaced the LEDs in a Crunchbox with a 12ax7.  It was.... interesting. 

I'd lowered the cap parallel to the gain pot to 51pf from 100pf, and it sounded like a very bassy fuzz.  Might be interesting with a blend as a bass drive.  After that I dropped the input cap from 22n to 4.7 and that was better but still not what I was thinking.  Adding 750k resistor (?, might have been 500k) to ground from that cap cut out too much signal so I removed that resistor.  It's a work in progress, but I went and built a Boneyard on vero which sounded awesome, using just a 500k gain pot to get rid of oscillation that happened with a 1meg, no high/low switching.

The valve is only running at 9v, and I wasn't expecting the next coming from my results.  I was basically inspired by the Zendrive 2 and one of Juan Solo's build of the Wizard's Sleeve (Spark Gap, after researching I find it's not just a tubescreamer with valve clipping).

So now, it's to a bit more research to see what I can do to make it sound a bit better.