Post something good that happened today, Parts Two

[DirtDawg]

... upon another note, I am gleaning a bounty from the garden these past weeks. Tomatoes are really finishing, since the evenings have been so chilly. The mother plants are beginning to pout and not set or even try to keep fruit. These are some of the last for the year.

Peppers both hot and sweet are still rockin' though.

This represents about a day's worth of each, but the tomatoes are about done.
The peppers are very sweet, but also VERY hot. Leaving these jalapenos in the sun long enough to become fully ripened makes them monsters, but I love it! They are fabulous!
A couple of pics:

[rock hound]

Went with Carla to Portland Maine and took a class for Basic Life Support/CPR and I just received my certificate!     Now after all the travel, I am going to enjoy some wine before cooking supper!   

[rock hound]

And on another note, just received a volcano book I ordered from the UK Geological Society of London.     I love how it comes in a big burlap type bag with the emblem of the ROYAL MAIL on it!     Now I have two of the bags and I haven't a clue what to do with them!      But the book is well worth the quandary!   

['andersom']

Someone gave me a pretty bag with absolutely delightful loose Lady Grey tea.

Unwrapping it made my nose really happy. Drinking it was a feast for the whole bovine.

[odeon]

I feel troubled about posting this in this particular thread, but many will see this as a positive influence of the current market.


I am intrigued (maybe not - possibly devastatingly depressed - BUT, I see a trend from which we not be able to recover) by the fact that streaming music has risen so much in such a short time.

Notice how physical media sales are quickly vanishing from the market numbers. While some of us have noticed the trend in recent years, these numbers are quite depressing to me.
I have to assume that the eventuality exists that streaming media will soon replace physical media as a main source for most peoples' music and video needs.

Link to RIAA numbers Here:

 

Without physical copies you are at the mercy of those providing the content which is something I find  troubling

City close by, a big shop (part of a chain) selling records and CD's disappeared.
But, the past two years, also two more specialised shops appeared.

Maybe the tide is turning a bit.

I know of no new ones, but there are a few that I visit regularly. I'd by more vinyl if I ha a decent player, though; for now, I buy CDs.

It's the same with ebooks. I don't mind them per se--after all, it's possible to read them--but they can't compete with a physical copy that you can hold in your hands and leaf through.

How about buy vinyl when you can find classics in great shape, because they are becoming rare. Then as time moves on, you will be even more motivated to invest in some sort of decent turntable.

Honestly, most any modern $500 table/cartridge combo using a median quality preamp will generally blow away a typical mid-fi quality CD set up.

If you have a truly hi definition speaker and amplifier system, I would spend more money on the preamp/phono stage. If your budget can approach the thousand dollar range for a turntable (I have a fairly mid level Music Hall that I invested about half that on, many years ago) and approach half that for a cartridge (I actually have a number of cartridges, each one has its own strengths. Choose a decent one and do your best to set it up properly. You will be amazed!), you will never regret it.

What you might come to regret is that keeping LPs pristine just before play can become its own level of insanity. Just clean them thoroughly when you buy them, (especially brand new ones), store them carefully and dust and De-electrostatic them before playing. Everything will be fine.

I have a whole bunch of rare collectibles that I don't ever want to play, especially not with the subpar Sony I own. It's a special kind of insanity, I agree. I used to by copies to play while keeping the collectibles pristine, and these days, some of those copies are FLAC files.

I'm not terribly pleased with my current amp setup. The speakers--Dali--are OK and properly played in, with small room characteristics I really like, but I would like a proper pre-amp setup rather than the midrange do-it-all Denon I have. Some day...

[Phoenix]

Thank god I'm surrounded by funny people. They save you when you're in the middle of someone else's drama.

[Gopher Gary]

I just got done watching the lunar eclipse. The clouds almost ruined the grand finale, but yeah cloud breaks saved the day. 

[odeon]

I missed the eclipse. I decided to get some sleep instead.

Coffee happened, though.

['andersom']

Saw a bit of the eclipse this morning. The info I had read said it would be completely red till 6 am. No such luck, but did see most of it in the earth's shade at 5:30 this morning. Not completely any more.

Got kids out of bed. And got both of them in bed again too.

Had really hoped for a quiet day. Rerouted my mood by warping my loom and starting a tartan. First time. So used dead cheap yarn from the thriftshop, but I really like the effect.

Fed, medicated and heated kids.
Also fed cats and cleaned up cat-vomit. Sirius was the culprit, for a change.

[Phoenix]

It's rainy and I have candles and a good book.

['andersom']

Wow, did I post the above in the good thread?

Oh well.

Warping the loom and starting a tartan was fun.

[rock hound]

My right knee finally feels better.  My right bruised ribs, not so much....made for interesting modifications in yoga class this morning.  OY

[WolFish]

Last night Py's minecraft buddies told her about the eclipse and we saw the whole thing through about 2.5 hours.  I couldn't figure out my pentax in time, but I got fuzzy pics with my comp camera. fought with the fancy new tripod too, but luckily my Star-D was in the corner awaiting a decision about whether to donate it. Set it up in seconds and got even better pics with the comp camera. NOT donating it.

And this morning I heard back from the chair of the department who finally is taking the plagiarism seriously. She had been hemming around the issue, but last night I sent her a link to a site where there were five final papers for five courses in her department for people to copy. There were papers from other units as well. Guess she had an "oh, crap" moment. She escalated it to the dean right away.

Last, but not least, I am home from my mother's house and enjoying a nice cup of tea.

[DirtDawg]

I missed the eclipse. I decided to get some sleep instead.

Coffee happened, though.

It all happened here from around ten PM to a little after twelve when the clouds rolled in.  I took about four hundred pics. Tripod, four hundred mm lens. NOT great though, due to light pollution here in the city. Every pic has a great deal of scattered light in the image from all the haze lighting up.

Wish I had had a way to get about fifty miles or so from city lights!
 

['andersom']

Last night Py's minecraft buddies told her about the eclipse and we saw the whole thing through about 2.5 hours.  I couldn't figure out my pentax in time, but I got fuzzy pics with my comp camera. fought with the fancy new tripod too, but luckily my Star-D was in the corner awaiting a decision about whether to donate it. Set it up in seconds and got even better pics with the comp camera. NOT donating it.

And this morning I heard back from the chair of the department who finally is taking the plagiarism seriously. She had been hemming around the issue, but last night I sent her a link to a site where there were five final papers for five courses in her department for people to copy. There were papers from other units as well. Guess she had an "oh, crap" moment. She escalated it to the dean right away.

Last, but not least, I am home from my mother's house and enjoying a nice cup of tea.

Welcome home, Wolfie.