Myhamish

Last night, we watched the UK S15E07 episode. This is probably one of the best but most unusual Top Gear episodes ever. The road trip portion begins with Clarkson, May and Hammond in the US South - Virginia and North Carolina with a Ferrari 358, Mercedes 'hohum', and a Porsche 911/GTS3. (After the last trip to the South, I never thought they'd show their faces in the US again). They cut back to the studio segment which is quite clever and duly notes the departure of the Stig, then the obligatory unknown UK star in a beater car, then back to the road trip. In one of the most 'out there' video segments I've ever seen; (I won't give a spoiler) the Stig's betrayal is ritually commemorated. This segment contains the usual humour, fast cars, sardonic British wit or lack thereof as they generally don't speak well of North Americans or regard us with any respect. However, Clarkson, May and Hammond present a much deeper darker response to Stig's betrayal that goes well below the surface. This borders on the distubing and reveals much about their own personalities. Back to the road trip, off to New York City, and back to the studio. A must see episode. It can be found on EZTV. Slainte. Hamish

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This proves there are Rednecks all around the world, there famous last words, " hold my beer and watch this! ". LOL! Ain't that the truth. I'll drink to that. Slainte. Hamish

Best wishes to you and your family, Marshal. Slainte. Hamish

Hey sSnyder, I hope there's no imminent need for this in your (or anybody's world). However, from a piper's standpoint, 'Mist Covered Mountains, 'Going Home' (same melody as Dvorak's New World), 'Flowers of the Forest', 'Amazing Grace - (ditto to Cask05)' and 'Morag of Dunvegan' are often played. When exiting the service, the 3/4s 'Green Hills of Tyrol' and 'When the Battle's O'er' are nice choices. From a more contemporary view, Dido's 'Safe Trip Home' CD features two tracks that deal with personal loss. One is 'The Day Before the Day' and the other is 'Grafton Street'. If Forum readers aren't acquainted with this album, I would strongly recommend it. State of the art recording, incredible lyrics and fluid vocals. But why any person would name their child is beyond me! Slainte. Hamish

Well, the UK Top Gear can't build a decent Space Shuttle like the good ole USA, but the Clarkson, Hammond & May buddy formula sure works. Slainte, Hamish

Very old tune - but a great tune - 'Closer to Home' by Grand Funk Railroad has a very musical rolling bass line throughout the whole tune that carries the melody also Dido (got to be careful how I spell or say that name - from "Safe Trip Home" - for deep down bass - two tracks - 'Grafton Street' and 'Under a Northern Sky. This album is also great for female voice and is one of my favourite test CDs - (another is Joan Osborne "Relish") Who in their right mind would name their child 'Dido'? And her poor brother's name is Rolo!

Hi delfam, Welcome to the Klipsch forum. You asked for 'thoughts', so here's some of mine. Klipsch is all about sound and music. There's a few different lines of Klipsch but their speakers are all horn loaded - totally different characteristics from dome tweeters. The Klipsch Heritage line has a lineup of 3 way speakers. These include the famous Klipschorns, LaScalas, Cornwalls and Heresys. Every now and then, some of these turn up for sale as people upgrade their systems. There's a garage sale forum here - you could even run a wanted listing and maybe something would turn up in your area. The HK twin powered receivers are a favourite match around here for Klipsch speakers, so you've got a keeper there Although I run and prefer Klipsch for my two channel and home channel rigs, I do have some experience with KEF and way-way back in time, I had Advents. Old speakers no matter what brand can have inherent problems due to age as well as use or abuse. Old Advents were notorious for foam surround rot as well as easy to blow tweeters. The KEF C80 has an classic oval shaped woofer - the B139 but the ferrofluid in the tweeters could have dried out over time. Careful auditioning with your HK might be an idea prior to pulling the trigger. $200 sounds a little steep. That money would buy half a pair of used Klipsch Heresy speakers from the Heritage line. Used Heresys can be found for $350-$450 depending on cabinet finish, age and etc. (caveat - even buying used Klipsch requires care) So IMHO - remembering it's all about sound and music - hold out for some Klipsch. With that HK, you'll have a rig that you could enjoy for life. Slainte. Hamish

Hey Joe, Yeah, we had that experience last winter. We bought an brand new Enviro pellet stove from an area dealer installer. Total package of stove, venting, installation and certification was over 3 grand. When the installation was complete, he turned it on. The convection or heating fan was so loud you couldn't talk over it, even though the literature said that it was the 'quietest pellet stove ever made .....you can only hear the pellets drop'. The dealer/installer said, "it was a big room so it would echo and sound louder", then he left. I even made lunch for this guy and his helper. Several times we approached the manufacturer with no replys & approached the provincial distributor with no replys. And the dealer/installer said it wasn't a problem and ignored our calls. This runaround went from February to late April (when we didn't need the stove). He was also supposed to give us an inspection certificate for insurance. Well, he never did that either, so I emailed the Ontario accreditation office to check on whether he was even really licensed to perform the work. Apparently, this had an effect. Within 3 days, I had a phone call from him that a new fan was on order and after a couple more weeks of bumbling around he came up and put it in. The new fan was much quieter. 'No soup for you', this trip. So this year, Paddy and I talked about replacing it with something else but decided we'd just run it til it quits or has another problem, then make a decision. So at least, so far, we can be in the same room with it. But the whole experience has left a bad taste in our mouths, so I can empathize with what you're going through. So hang in there and be persistent. Good luck. Slainte. Hamish

This is where he was when I took the photo. Slainte. Hamish

This is kind of a neat shot that I thought I'd share. This is an non edited or Photoshopped pix of my pooch taken the other morning on SWMBO's HP camera. All I did was reduce the file size to squeeze it through the web wires. We have an older brick house that has a summer kitchen attached to the back. In it, we have a woodstove that gets a fair bit of use in the winter. The room is called the 'Survival Pod'. Cammie, our 11 1/2 year old rescued Dalmatian loves his woodstove being a fire dog and all. My old avatar used to show him sitting in front of the stove with his butt parked on the stool. This photo is a new variation. Apparently, he got up on the stool and fell asleep (which he does best). I was sitting behind him with my coffee and noticed the reflection in the glass. SWBO got the camera and I took the photo without a flash setting. So this is what I ended up. The second photo shows where he was in relation to the stove when I took the photo. Slainte Hamish

ahem... In the tradition of Owsley, Purple Microdots, Windowpanes, there was a reality enhancing product named Blue Cheer. I thought that was where the band took the name. Wow - you were at the Bowl between '67 & '69, - legendary performances - Did you see the Doors maybe? A lot of those bands toured up to Vancouver. There was one festival in the fall of '69 north of Vancouver at Squamish - Little Richard, Canned Heat, A Group Called Smith, Flying Burrito Brothers, Chicago Transit Authority (first Canadian gig) and Alice Cooper (first Canadian gig). Overall, the festival was a zoo. Everyone walked in over broken fences, bikers were beating up longhairs, bad reality enhancers were going around - but some great music. In other concerts either in Vancouver or Toronto, I caught Country Joe & the Fish, Jefferson Airplane, Johnny Winters, Collectors, Tiny Tim, Moody Blues, Sha-na-na, Melanie, Chilliwack. Rare Earth, more Alice Cooper and a number of Canadian bands. For me, having been able to see those bands perform in those days and listen to the recordings now, has more of an effect than listening to a band that I never saw (but wish I had because the opportunities were there). Some of the tv shows - Ed Sullivan, Steve (make me a salad) Allen, Smothers Brothers, etc. really broke new ground in bringing the bands in. Great way to see them and get that visual fix. Way before MTV. Slainte Hamish

gee Wuzzer, please don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. I hope all works out for you and your family. Slainte. Hamish

Did you catch any of the concerts back then? Anyway, when you get into the framing, consider that all these are archival items. So you might look at conservation framing techniques such as acid free mattboard, uv resistant glass & etc. And think about displaying them well away from any direct window light. Any history, photos or provenance that you may have such as where, when and how you got the poster and records could be included on the back mounting boards. This will make the items that much more meaningful as they continue their voyage through time. Did you know that Blue Cheer was a fair to middling reality enhancer back in the good old days. Slainte or should I say 'Cheers' even 'Blue Cheers'. Hamish

Yeah, I know, I'm the guy with the Bose turntable, Anyway, we were in the Kittery, Maine last week (I love that name - the Kittery - gets the old imagination going in a few steamy directions). The Kittery is full of outlet stores and malls. So after waiting while Paddy stocked up on Osh-Kosh to send to NZ, I got equal time to visit the Bose outlet shop across the road. With a dark storm brewing on the horizon. In the Bose shop, I was more into reading price tags than checking out the produce - and this was the outlet store. A sales associate approached - a large friendly no pressure guy asked if he could be of assistance. I mentioned that we were dodging the storm and he invited us into a small theatre demo room with a 46" flatscreen and little FL,FR, C, RS, RL and sub cubes covered by black covers. Paddy and I were the only visitors in the room, so the show began - with sound excerpts, video concert excerpts (Joan Osborne in concert ((BTW - her 'Relish' album of years gone by is one of my favourites)) ). Not too shabby. My first observation was seeing the Bose logo on the the tv. Separation was good all the way around, although the vocals were a little boomy. The easy remote looked cool. At the end of the video portion of the presentation, our presenter proceeded to remove the black covers to reveal blank walls. All the surround sound and bass was being channeled and projected from the flatscreen tv. That did make an impression as it had me fooled. We went into another room where there was a similar setup where I could try the remote and get the feel of the system. By this time, the storm had passed, so we thanked our host and headed on our ten hour drive home (NH liquor stores right on the freeways - we don't get that up here). My take on all this - I love where the music takes me with my Klipsch speakers. There is no comparison. As for the Bose Video/Wave - it's an interesting product, works, is very expensive and the built-in tv makes upgrading an issue. Possibly with an audio only module to go behind any tv might be a better route. As far as the staff at the Bose outlet - our presenter was courteous but his 'other product knowledge' drew a blank when I mentioned LaScalas. I should have told him about the turntable. Now I wonder if Black Grouse is going to taste like Johnny Black. God Bless the USA Slainte, Hamish

ditto to Wuzzer - try a t amp - you'll need a sub though. Slainte. Hamish

Much appreciated, Picky. Turkey time for us is tonight. Slainte. Hamish

Hey Bob, The hard part is over - from now on - every day you get a little better - find stuff you can do and focus on that - do your physio, then do a little extra - it all takes time. In 2003, I just about tore my leg off at the knee. It took a year. That's when I got in on the forum here. So hang in there, buddy. Slainte. Hamish

Rust Never Sleeps ---- 'bit rot' - the toe jam of the digital world - . Here's an excerpt from Wiki Bit rot From Wikipedia, the free encyclopeia Bit rot, also known as bit decay, data rot, or data decay, is a colloquial computing term used to describe either a gradual decay of storage media or (facetiously) the spontaneous degradation of a software program over time. The latter use of the term implies that software can literally wear out or rust like a physical tool. More commonly, bit rot refers to the decay of physical storage media. Decay of storage media Bit rot is often defined as the event in which the small electric charge of a bit in memory disperses, possibly altering program code. Bit rot can also be used to describe the phenomenon of data stored in eproms and flash memory gradually decaying over the duration of many years, or in the decay of data stored on CD or DVD disks or other types of consumer storage. The cause of bit rot varies depending on the medium. EPROMs and flash memory store data using electrical charges, which can slowly leak away due to imperfect insulation. The chip itself is not affected by this, so re-programming it once per decade or so will prevent the bit rot. Floppy and magnetic storage may experience bit rot as bits lose magnetic orientation, and in warm, humid conditions these media are prone to literally rot. In optical discs such as CDs and DVDs the breakdown of the material onto which the data is stored may cause bit rot. This can be mitigated by storing disks in a dark, cool location with low humidity. Archival quality disks are also available. Old punched and punched tapes may also experience literal rotting. Bit rot is also used to describe the idea that semiconductor RAM may occasionally be altered by cosmic rays. Slainte. Hamish

Canadian beer doesn't make the list? Some list! Slainte Hamish

'Toys in the Attic' turns into 'Rainbow Bridge' Slainte. Hamish

I think we're all bozos on this bus.

Catchy title. This week, I received one of the little flea power Dayton T class amplifiers ($45 from Parts Express). After reading all the reviews, I thought I'd try one. First of all, I had it hooked up to my Sony ES CD player into the Heresys. Sounded pretty good. Then I put on a y adapter and ran a sub-woofer along with it. Sounded better. Then hooked up the LaScalas. Sounded better yet. The LaScalas are more efficient so you get more sound without pushing the amp past halfway. Then I attached it to a laptop computer using the computer sound card and a mini plug output back to the sub and t amp into the LaScalas..Playing a CD through the computer just sounded OK. Then I tried it with a Behringer USB interface that Michael Hurd had recommended last fall. This interface has optical and rca analogue outputs. I hooked up the analogue outputs into the y adapter back to the sub and T amp. The sound is amazing. This setup excels at female voice and sharp definition in drums. Dido's 'Safe Trip Home' is a good test CD. The amp seems to be be much quicker so it adds more detail. (sorry, I can't get a handle on the wordy, flowery prose descriptions or catchy titles) All in all, it's one of the best setups I've ever had. Slainte. Hamish

Thanks Gilbert - great link, I think you hit an (sp) for Fiona not Viona. Other than these clinical projections, I have a gut feeling about September 10 that all hell is about to break loose. Slainte. Hamish