So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

tonyb · Aug 31, 2019

No audiophile I (ear of solid tin, alas), but I have a great fondness for the *look* of vintage audio gear. Got stuff dating from the 1940s to the 20-aughts. I’m most fond of the late-’60s thru early-’70s stuff — the Packard Bell console I bought from the original owner (a dealer’s sticker on the back identifies him by name); the round “end table” Pioneer speakers (no great shakes acoustically, I’m told by those who know such things, but they sure do look cool); the Wharfdales I bought from the brother of the original owner, who had purchased them in Hong Kong while taking a break from that US military engagement in Vietnam. Turns out that the brother survived the war only to die in a car wreck shortly after returning home.

I like stuff with a history. I don’t have to know the particulars of that history, but it’s all the better when I do.

Trenchfriend · Sep 1, 2019

Ey, what? People flipping out that much, just because of a simple soda-oops?? What's wrong with this audience?

0:27

Even Germans wouldn't react this way!

Trenchfriend · Sep 2, 2019

LizzieMaine said:
The Boys will find a way to insert their greasy little manipulations into every product you buy. Not satisfied with having fully perpetuated the fiction of expiration dates on packaged foods, they're now turning their attention to the other end of the process.

Yesterday I needed to pick up a roll of toilet paper. All my life I've used Scottissue -- it's cheap, it's wrapped without a lot of extraneous layers, it has no cutesy mascots, and I like the texture. But this last roll I've bought -- and I only ever buy one roll at a time -- bears something new on the wrapper: the prominent legend ONE ROLL LASTS ONE WEEK.

I laughed out loud when I see this. One roll, a standard 1000-sheet roll, lasts me close to a month, even with my several-visits-to-the-facility-a-day habit and my generous per-visit allotment of the product. Now, next to the legend in very tiny type, is an obligatory disclaimer: "Based on average family size and usage." But the type is very tiny indeed, and in fact I didn't notice it at all when I first bought the roll. How many shoppers, who don't think about such things, are going to see the ONE ROLL LASTS ONE WEEK statement and figure, "Well, gee, I'm going to be a Smart Shoppa, and I'm going to buy several rolls! Wouldn't want to run short!" The Boys, in their infinite deviousness, are counting on this, just as I'm counting on the day, someday, that Golden Day, when the Boys get all that is coming to them.

Our popular recycling AND still unbleached brand in old Germany:

"Thank you!".

Edward · Sep 2, 2019

HudsonHawk said:
I agree about 70s hi-fi equipment. It was the perfect combination of style and substance. I have a couple of early 70s receivers that I've reconditioned, a Sansui 8080 and a Marantz 2230. The 2230 is sort of the entry into their top-end stuff at the time, and it doesn't have as much power as other offerings, but it's considered by many to be the best *sounding* receiver Marantz ever made. It sure sounds sweet. And you're right, 70s gear in decent condition (and even in non-working condition) is getting ridiculously expensive. A fully functional Marantz 2270 (same receiver as the 2230 but with more power) is going for about $2,000. I picked up the 2230 I have from a local ad for $150 because not everything was working. A little Deoxit, re-soldering, and a little elbow grease got in shape again (luckily I didn't have to replace any major parts). Fixed up the cosmetics, cleaned up everything, replaced the lamps, etc, and it looks pretty spiffy, and I could probably get $400-500 for it today. I have a recently made Orbit turntable, a no frills belt-drive made right here in the good ol' US of A, and it sounds pretty good through my Canadian-made Paradigm speakers from the 80s. Of course, the Holy Grail of 70s home hi-fi speakers are the JBL L100s, but those are crazy money, and even the re-issues are out of most peoples' budget. I reckon I'll continue to search garage sales and local ads for cheap stuff to work on. It's been pretty fun expanding my electronics skills, and it makes the music more enjoyable.

Plus there's a real satisfaction to be had from getting great sound for beans, especially when you put that work into it.

LizzieMaine · Sep 3, 2019

Trenchfriend said:
Ey, what? People flipping out that much, just because of a simple soda-oops?? What's wrong with this audience?

0:27

Even Germans wouldn't react this way!

Who needs the Kiss Cam when you've got the Pizza Cam?

tonyb · Sep 5, 2019

Push polls.

Trenchfriend · Sep 5, 2019

Better pay attention on "Pizza Diavolo". My throat doesn't like it that much and I had to repair the damage with good old myrrh-tincture, the last days.

Good old myrrh-tincture is still wonderstuff. Love it since twenty years.

Nobert · Sep 5, 2019

I've been having misgivings about my new job. It's working in a coffee shop/cafe, which is fine, but I've been harboring qualms. Not surprisingly, it involves punching in at 6:30 a.m, which is already against my personal code of ethics. But, I figured, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. It's at the local university, the cafe being located in the lobby of the library; a trend I have been resolutely opposed to since it started about twenty years ago. But, again, I decided I wouldn't be the first person who stretched their principles to make an honest buck, and it's not like they're going to stop putting coffee joints in libraries if I opt to take my ball and go home in a snit.

No, it's the absurd, cloying frippery of some of the drinks we serve. For me, coffee is a beverage, not an ingredient. Having things like lattes and espresso and all the aspiring Eurotrash coffee is one thing, I can deal with that. But having to concoct an iced caramel machiotto or a thing called a "Candy Bar" with three different kinds of syrup, is not only time-consuming and messy, but galls me on a personal level. When someone asks if they can have a frozen chocoloate chip mocha, I say, "Sure," but what I want to say is, "There's an ice-cream joint just down the street, if you want a frappe, that's the place to go." I don't know how long I can reconcile myself to doling out diabetes by the cupful to people in the final stages of metabolic development before the body calicifies into lifelong habits. Besides, this is college. In a few years, these people will enter the adult world, and I balk at having to cater to the debased, infantile tastes that have passed themselves off as coffee for too long now. Why are we not at least trying to wean them onto grownup coffee? I'll do it of course, but I can't really be invested in the idea of contributing our six-and-a-half to the Freshman Fifteen.

Bushman · Sep 6, 2019

Nobert said:
I've been having misgivings about my new job. It's working in a coffee shop/cafe, which is fine, but I've been harboring qualms. Not surprisingly, it involves punching in at 6:30 a.m, which is already against my personal code of ethics. But, I figured, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. It's at the local university, the cafe being located in the lobby of the library; a trend I have been resolutely opposed to since it started about twenty years ago. But, again, I decided I wouldn't be the first person who stretched their principles to make an honest buck, and it's not like they're going to stop putting coffee joints in libraries if I opt to take my ball and go home in a snit.

No, it's the absurd, cloying frippery of some of the drinks we serve. For me, coffee is a beverage, not an ingredient. Having things like lattes and espresso and all the aspiring Eurotrash coffee is one thing, I can deal with that. But having to concoct an iced caramel machiotto or a thing called a "Candy Bar" with three different kinds of syrup, is not only time-consuming and messy, but galls me on a personal level. When someone asks if they can have a frozen chocoloate chip mocha, I say, "Sure," but what I want to say is, "There's an ice-cream joint just down the street, if you want a frappe, that's the place to go." I don't know how long I can reconcile myself to doling out diabetes by the cupful to people in the final stages of metabolic development before the body calicifies into lifelong habits. Besides, this is college. In a few years, these people will enter the adult world, and I balk at having to cater to the debased, infantile tastes that have passed themselves off as coffee for too long now. Why are we not at least trying to wean them onto grownup coffee? I'll do it of course, but I can't really be invested in the idea of contributing our six-and-a-half to the Freshman Fifteen.

I have long turned my nose up to those frou-frou concoctions of candy coated sugary drinks trying to pass themselves off as coffee. For me, coffee is a meant to be simple. Grounds, water, cream, and sugar. No syrups, no whipped cream, no cherries, or any of the other junk that gets shoved into them these days. Having an Italian family, I can appreciate some of those blends like cappuccinos, but I still like my coffee simple: cream, with a little coffee and sugar.

Hat and Rehat · Sep 6, 2019

Nobert said:
I've been having misgivings about my new job. It's working in a coffee shop/cafe, which is fine, but I've been harboring qualms. Not surprisingly, it involves punching in at 6:30 a.m, which is already against my personal code of ethics. But, I figured, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. It's at the local university, the cafe being located in the lobby of the library; a trend I have been resolutely opposed to since it started about twenty years ago. But, again, I decided I wouldn't be the first person who stretched their principles to make an honest buck, and it's not like they're going to stop putting coffee joints in libraries if I opt to take my ball and go home in a snit.

No, it's the absurd, cloying frippery of some of the drinks we serve. For me, coffee is a beverage, not an ingredient. Having things like lattes and espresso and all the aspiring Eurotrash coffee is one thing, I can deal with that. But having to concoct an iced caramel machiotto or a thing called a "Candy Bar" with three different kinds of syrup, is not only time-consuming and messy, but galls me on a personal level. When someone asks if they can have a frozen chocoloate chip mocha, I say, "Sure," but what I want to say is, "There's an ice-cream joint just down the street, if you want a frappe, that's the place to go." I don't know how long I can reconcile myself to doling out diabetes by the cupful to people in the final stages of metabolic development before the body calicifies into lifelong habits. Besides, this is college. In a few years, these people will enter the adult world, and I balk at having to cater to the debased, infantile tastes that have passed themselves off as coffee for too long now. Why are we not at least trying to wean them onto grownup coffee? I'll do it of course, but I can't really be invested in the idea of contributing our six-and-a-half to the Freshman Fifteen.

That job is so wrong!
Wait a minute.
Are 50% of the patrons females between the age of 18 And 22, and you have no blood relation to any of them?

Invent a Barbie marshmallow double French kiss Americano with sprinkles and stop your whining!

Sent from my LM-X410(FG) using Tapatalk

AbbaDatDeHat · Sep 6, 2019

Edward said:
True vintage hifi, though, is a thing of real beauty. For me, the sweet-spot is the seventies: beautiful design, high quality sound, and well looked after the value will only go up (unlike the 1990s stack system I'm currently clearing out.... it was my pride and joy when I got it for my eighteenth; twenty-seven years later, it's time for the old girl to be euthanised. Early 70s transistorised hifi is hard to beat. While I'm inevitably going to use modern stuff for the peripherals (including the speakers, as a Higher Power vetoed the idea of Celestion 66s with 12" drivers....), the heart of my new system is a 1978 Pioneer sx890 (would love a Marantz 7210, but they're much rarer over here than in the US). At the minute I have a seventies direct drive Sony TT, but in time I'll be buying the 2016 version of the Rega Planar III - a table which hasn't changed all the much since its original 70s incarnation. The 70s was the first era of really good quality hifi, imo - after that, sound quality could be had a bit cheaper, but unless you spend crazy money now you'll never get the beauty or the physical build quality of the 70s stuff...

I've always been interested in bits from any side as historical artefacts, but yeah, there's something weird about it when you're looking at everyday, domestic stuff, when you realise this wasn't the tool of either the True Believer or the poor bugger conscript on the other side, but the kind of thing that would have been commonplace had 'they' won.

Edward:
I totally get what you are saying.
In the summer of 1973 i sold my pristine 1969 Z28 and bought a stereo system and a leather jacket.
A Marantz 1120 control amp a Dual 1229 turntable and a pair of 4 way speakers.
I’m proud to say i still play that same system about every day. Some times all day. I have added a 105 B tuner and finally a pair of Magneplanar electrostatic panel speakers that i always dreamed of.
I got the bug for more Marantz and picked up another amp and tuner for my Son and a beast 4270 Quad receiver.
I guess the Son thinks iPhone music is better so it sits.
The system will still knock stuff off shelves about break glass and alert the neighbors to my nostalgia. Lol
You can not get that kind of sound now!!
Also, the leather jacket is still cool to wear!
Thought you might enjoy my agreement with you about Marantz.
Bowen

Hercule · Sep 6, 2019

Nobert said:
... It's at the local university, the cafe being located in the lobby of the library; a trend I have been resolutely opposed to since it started about twenty years ago. But, again, I decided I wouldn't be the first person who stretched their principles to make an honest buck, and it's not like they're going to stop putting coffee joints in libraries if I opt to take my ball and go home in a snit.

No, it's the absurd, cloying frippery of some of the drinks we serve. For me, coffee is a beverage, not an ingredient. Having things like lattes and espresso and all the aspiring Eurotrash coffee is one thing, I can deal with that. But having to concoct ...

Working as a librarian and being an inveterate coffee drinker, I can both sympathize and take issue with your assessment of "coffee joints in libraries." Once upon a time libraries were august and venerated institutions of research, study, and learning and certainly not the place for food and drink. But no more. Academic libraries are dying a slow (but speeding up by the minute) death. Students don't use them because they are inconvenient. Online and at the fingertips is the way of the present and future. (faculty contribute to the situation too) My library invests an insane amount of time and energy trying to come up with ways to get students in the door and to use the resources that we go to great effort and cost to provide. Sadly, providing food and drink has been a reasonably effective way of doing that. You should have seen the place yesterday. It was National cheese pizza day! - on another note: students and food also seems to be a downward trend. I've bought pizza and donuts for the students that work for me and they almost always go uneaten (save for me - donuts are my absolute weakness).

As for frou frou coffee drinks. I take it black thank you very much, but I enjoy a sweet creamy cup on a rare occasion, and I can also go for a mocha-slushy frozen thing on occasion. What you should realize is that these drinks are for those who don't like coffee and don't want to admit it or otherwise let it be known. (It is an an adult drink after all.) Hence all these concoctions that have coffee as the last ingredient. ... "a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down..."

As to your situation, I can only suggest a heavy sigh and count to ten (or a million as necessary), and try to find some patience and understanding. If not, there's a great line that captures it nicely: "just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave..."

Trenchfriend · Sep 6, 2019

Tell me:

Is this Texas stuff good or is it just looking good?

3:31

tonyb · Sep 6, 2019

Bushman said:
I have long turned my nose up to those frou-frou concoctions of candy coated sugary drinks trying to pass themselves off as coffee. For me, coffee is a meant to be simple. Grounds, water, cream, and sugar. No syrups, no whipped cream, no cherries, or any of the other junk that gets shoved into them these days. Having an Italian family, I can appreciate some of those blends like cappuccinos, but I still like my coffee simple: cream, with a little coffee and sugar.

I drink coffee by the gallon — cold, over ice, morning, noon, and night. And straight — no sugar, no flavorings, no dairy product of any sort, just double (or triple) strength drip coffee. If it’s a good arabica, it tastes good cold, on its own, no adulterants. Lesser coffee doesn’t.

On those exceedingly rare occasions when I don’t get the equivalent of several cups of coffee in me within a couple hours of waking, I get a headache. So yeah, I’m dependent. It isn’t the same sort of dependency as I once had on tobacco, and it’s a whole lot less unhealthful, but there’s no denying I’m hooked.

The dewy-eyed bride’s Breville espresso machine is getting to be a high-mileage unit. It’ll be 12 years old come November, but it’s still chugging along. Gotta run vinegar through it a couple-three times a year, but other than that it’s been trouble free. The user has to learn how to drive the thing (the right grind is critical), but once it’s been mastered it produces as good a fancy-pants coffee concoction as can be had at the place with the mermaid logo. Better, really.

Lean'n'mean · Sep 6, 2019

Trenchfriend said:
Tell me:

Is this Texas stuff good or is it just looking good?

3:31

I don't know if it's good or not but quantity-wise, it would feed me for a week.

LizzieMaine · Sep 6, 2019

I can't tolerate coffee -- messes with my digestion -- but I more than make up for it with tea. And I cringe when I see people loading a perfectly legitmate cup of tea with such abominations as milk and sugar. I only like mine straight-up, lukewarm, and brewed for at least fifteen minutes. Half an hour is even better. It should be the color of an old piece of rusty iron pipe or it's not worth drinking.

Harp · Sep 6, 2019

tonyb said:
I drink coffee by the gallon — cold, over ice, morning, noon, and night. And straight —

On those exceedingly rare occasions when I don’t get the equivalent of several cups of coffee in me within a couple hours of waking, I get a headache. So yeah, I’m dependent. It isn’t the same sort of dependency as I once had on tobacco, and it’s a whole lot less unhealthful, but there’s no denying I’m hooked.

I normally rise at 04.00 and reach Starbucks an hour later, sleepwalking until that first cup of joe.
More at the office, and fully awake by 09.00. I just coast and nod, and smile until then.

GHT · Sep 6, 2019

LizzieMaine said:
I can't tolerate coffee -- messes with my digestion -- but I more than make up for it with tea. And I cringe when I see people loading a perfectly legitmate cup of tea with such abominations as milk and sugar. I only like mine straight-up, lukewarm, and brewed for at least fifteen minutes. Half an hour is even better. It should be the color of an old piece of rusty iron pipe or it's not worth drinking.

Tea and coffee both contain caffeine, a stimulant, but tea also has tannin and theanine, which are calming. The presence of these chemical compounds together in tea allows you to control its effect.
So that's why you like a rusty cup of tea, you need to control it's effect. A calm Lizzie? Perish the thought, you have a reputation to keep.

tonyb · Sep 6, 2019

LizzieMaine said:
I can't tolerate coffee -- messes with my digestion -- but I more than make up for it with tea. And I cringe when I see people loading a perfectly legitmate cup of tea with such abominations as milk and sugar. I only like mine straight-up, lukewarm, and brewed for at least fifteen minutes. Half an hour is even better. It should be the color of an old piece of rusty iron pipe or it's not worth drinking.

I suppose I could look it up, but I’m feeling lazy.

When and how did coffee supplant tea as the preferred caffeine delivery medium among us Americans?

And ...

Are there still regional differences? When I was a youngster, the Southern relations always had iced tea on hand, just as the Northerners rarely didn’t have a pot of coffee at the ready (percolators back then). But that’s going back more than half a century now.

vitanola · Sep 6, 2019

Trenchfriend said:
Tell me:

Is this Texas stuff good or is it just looking good?

So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

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