Mallette

Anyone bringing a turntable? Dave

Really only have some sample sets which I downloaded for a project some years back. Love those things! However, if I remember I'll dig up my old LP "Sublime Harmony," British pressing of vintage music boxes. Mind blowing fidelity! Thad and Carl will love it... Maybe start a whole new tradition. Dave

Old Pilgrimage joke. It was actually a 19th century band organ LP by Audio Fidelity recorded in the very early days. Incredible recording and no calliope involved, but I got a lot of ribbing about it. Music is really pretty good, but the recording and pressing are truly incredible. Rather listen to a band organ of this quality of recording than Pink Floyd on 8 track any day of the week.... Dave

Keep it up, Thad. Adding Lawrence Welk to the mix. Dave

I am bring LOT of calliope music... Dave

Unless you are replacing them with Klipsch you will find no better than these, except more Klipsch. Dave

Had to remove the link before approving. We don't have time to check them all out. You may put it in now if you wish and post at will. Make sure you read and understand the Terms of Service. Dave

Yep, my Arkansas property is directly in the line of totality. Well over 4 minutes of total darkness at the blue dot. Dave

Perhaps useful to mention that in my early 20s, as my tastes began to broaden in classical music, I had a sudden realization that has proven true. Truly great music is a matter of growing into it. Stuff that has stood the test of centuries HAS to be great, so if one doesn't like it just leave it be, but keep it around. I purchased music decades ago I didn't care for, then put it on later and suddenly it was wonderful. Dave

If you want to test those subs with something very accessible, try the E. Power Biggs, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, Camille Saint-Saëns ‎– Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony." In my case, a life changer. PWK played it for me in his listening lab, which is now the museum, about 1972 from a 15ips R2R on an Ampex 350 console deck. By pure chance, I found it among his R2R archive when I was asked to archive the collection to digital. If the descending C major scale at the end doesn't ring your chimes and rearrange your china cabinet I suggest just sticking with classic rock. Dave

No problem. Damn car won't let me do it anyway... Dave

Me too. If I'd seen it before the car I'd have accelerated. Dave

Seriously? That's a bit like "...tell it to those who died from turtle bites." BTW, if anything, the pedestrian warning and braking on my vehicle is over the top. Braked hard and sudden yesterday for a cat. Dave

I don't see your point. It appears to assume that these things come straight out of the laboratory and drive across the country. God forbid! The ones we have on the roads are dangerous enough without turning loose untested tech. I mentioned Musk's 100 passenger rocket above. I rather think that first launch will not have anyone on board. I am, in fact, a skeptic. But I also watch trends and how fast things happen. Four years to level 4 with the truck. The distance between L4 and L5 is not much hardware. it is software. There WILL be accidents, but each one will happen only ONCE and then be fixed in software to the point the odds of it happening again will be tiny. I am going to be conservative and say the time from L4 to L5 will be no more than, and possibly less than, the time from L1 to L4. With trillions in revenue at stake, that may be too conservative. That truck under L4 was probably 10 time safer than the even the most skilled human driver. When they are deployed in earnest they'll be at least 100 times safer...and they will NEVER pull out in front of you if you are traveling faster than they are. Hallelujah! Dave

Just did a quick calculation. Web says there are 3.5 million truck drivers in the US. If we assume 80k a year in pay and benefits per each, that is a bit over a quarter of a trillion dollars per year. That is why so many tech and trucking companies are betting the farm on them and making headway by the day. First cross country Level 4 crossing the US with a load was just last month by a startup that started only 4 years earlier. You don't have to have much imagination to see how far and fast this is happening. From Forbes: "The California-based company's Level 4 autonomous semi-tractor-trailer recently drove 2,800 miles from a shipping hub in Tulare, California to another in Quakertown, Pennsylvania on I-15 and I-75. The three-day trip was done “primarily” in autonomous mode with a safety driver in the vehicle to take over when needed. Plus.ai says this trip represents the “first L4 U.S. cross-country commercial pilot hauling a fully-loaded refrigerated trailer of perishable cargo.” That perishable cargo? Land O Lakes butter. Plus.ai says that the autonomous truck drove during the day and at night, and safely navigated road construction situations, mountains, tunnels and the rain and snow you would expect on a cross-country trip in December. To do this, the truck uses Plus.ai’s “advanced autonomous driving system” which is made up of multimodal sensors, deep learning visual algorithms and simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) technologies. Aside from the safety driver, a safety engineer was also on board to monitor the various autonomous driving systems. “Continued advances in our autonomous trucks will make it possible for these quick cross-country runs to be the norm in the future,” said Plus.ai’s COO and co-founder, Shawn Kerrigan, in a statement. “We are excited to demonstrate what our technology can already achieve today." I'll throw in here that while at Forbes, I learned that Tesla is now the most valuable auto manufacturer in US history. Dave

Yes, I was the OP and I own such a car right now. It did 90% of the driving from Arkansas to California a couple of weeks ago hands free...right in line with my post and within the timeline predicted. Above, I mentioned that 50 years ago even the best predictions of today have turned out to be woefully inadequate and conservative. My HS friends would have said pretty much precisely what you said above if someone predicted the internet, cell phones, rockets completely reusable and construction underway of one capable of transporting 100 passengers to Mars, vehicles like I own, TV sets cheaper than the average TV of that time with 4K resolution, weighing only a few pounds, and less than an inch thick...I could go on. My dad was born the year of the Wright brothers first flight and died the year we landed on the moon, and the pace of advance continuously accelerates. I'll give you one that is dead certain to happen in the not too distant future that will cause a paradigm shift. I've told my son not to hold gold. The solar system outside Earth, where we have recovered almost all the gold we will ever recover here, is rotten with the stuff. Also platinum, rare earths, and lord knows what. One mining ship towing back an asteriod that is a significant percent gold would instantly render the gold held here much less valuable and eventually of very little value besides the workmanship in it. These elements and minerals in plentiful supply will massively reduce the cost of many advanced devices. Titanium aircraft, spacecraft, and vehicles will be far stronger and much lighter. That's an easy prediction that can only be stopped if NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origins, and the others are stopped. Dave

True enough in the context of nearly half a century before we are talking about. I won't list them as I am not making an argument here and that is *** for tat, but I could point out many things that are common today the majority of us half a century ago would have said "Never will happen..." Consider the trillions we will save in highway construction and repair alone from emerging technology, starting with autonomous vehicles. Let's just say that whatever it looks like, the face of the US and world 40 years from now wil be radically different from now. Dave

"Resistance is futile. You will become Prime." Dave

Where did you get an idea like that? 😜 Dave

No problem. Post at will... Dave

Sorry you have to do this, but the we way welcome new members is to strip any links. That's be cause we don't have time to follow them to ensure they are within the TOS. Assuming yours go where they appear to, repost them now. Dave

For me, one of the least remembered but perhaps the most important speech of the 20th century. Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961 "This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government. Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite. It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society." Dave

Okies, friends. Let your mind consider this as a science fiction story. I think you may find it easier to handle that way. It is 2040. Every home in America has a roof top drone pad capable of holding a 2000 lb drone. It is multi-purpose. First, it supplies 90 percent of everything the home requires. Food, prescriptions, clothing, groceries, books, electronics...pretty much everything. It is automatically disconnected from the drone and lowered into the home. If multi-floored, it goes to the correct floor. Heavy items are on battery powered dollies for easy movement to the correct room. How much does this cost? It's Amazon Prime, and now truly PRIME. Big items are transported by autonomous trucks. You have no car. As the silent Prime drones deliver something or someone nearby...which is going on constantly, if one is closest to your home when you summon a ride it is there in a couple of minutes, now ready for human transport in speed, comfort, and safety. Amazon's fleet of the descendants of SpaceX's Starliner spacecraft move freight and people anywhere in the world in 30 minutes. Deliveries of goods and passengers are made to orbital stations, the moon, and Mars on a regular basis. Amazon is now equal to the government in revenue and far more efficient. Over its four decades of existence it has swallowed Walmart, the grocery stores, the hardware stores, Ebay, Craigs List, and pretty much every other retail business. The majority of Americans see doctors in the Amazon Network, go to Amazon Clinics, Amazon ER's, And Amazon Hospitals. Some independents exist but are considered out of network for Amazon insurance. Far fetched? What if someone told you in 1960 that a company would arise in some little town in NW Arkansas that would take over the majority of all grocery and general goods sales in the US in 40 years while destroying entire city centers, leaving your neighborhood mom and pop store history, changing the makeup of the nation, and becoming the largest employer the world has ever seen? Wanna see what about a trillion dollars will do for a backwater area of Arkansas? Drive the Fayetteville to Bentonville corridor. You will be stunned. Amazon is the successor and it's my prediction it will have an even more profound effect than Walmart. Can anyone deny that Walmart is America's store? Perhaps America will be come Amazon's country. Believe it could happen? Why or why not? Good witch or bad witch? Discuss among yourselves...

No links allowed in first post. Dave

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